Move Analysis of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo's 2017 Presidential Inaugural Speech (PIS)

Abstract

 In Ghana, a Presidential Inaugural Speech (PIS) is an important part of the inauguration and swearing-in ceremony, and the new president seizes the opportunity to promote his policies, and appeals for the people's unity, support, and trust in the new era. Using the Genre Theory (Bhatia, 1993; Swales, 1990), the current study investigated the move structure and linguistic characteristics of His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo's (President of Ghana) 2017 PIS. The study revealed that Akufo-Addo employed eight (8) generic moves, namely: 1) Salutation, 2) God's name, 3) Transition, 4) Patriotism, 5)Challenges, 6) Change, 7) Promises, and 7) Closure. The study also found that Akufo-Addo's PIS was characterized by the heavy use of inclusive elements (such as "we,” "us,” and "let us,”) and discourse structure that reached out to all Ghanaians. Finally, the study concludes that, though the PIS involves reminding the audience of the campaign promises, it generally adapts to the audience, managing and respecting their (audience's) boundaries. The finding of this research has implications for scholarship on PIS, ESP pedagogy and further research.