A SURVEY OF HATE SPEECH IN SELECTED TIV POLITICAL CAMPAIGN SONGS
Abstract The study, "A survey of hate speech in selected Tiv political campaign songs" affirms language as a powerful tool used to arouse political emotions by poets specialised in composing political songs. Nigerian politicians use political songs to canvass for votes. These songs are usually sponsored by candidates or political parties, and as the proverbial saying goes "He who pays the piper dictates the tune", the poets project the image of their sponsors positively and tarnish that of their opponents in order to record victory at the polls for their sponsors. Thus, a number of political songs in Tiv are characterised by hate speech and character assassination which have the potency of causing political crises in the society. The study sets out to explicate the concept of hate speech which is a product of language and the concept of pragmatics which takes care of embedded meanings in hate speech based on the context of language use. Data for the study were collected through the primary source where Tiv native speakers were interviewed and tapes of the selected songs were listened to. Hate speech was identified in selected political songs of Terkula Kyumbul, ACN song composer, Gabon Akuhe, PDP song composer; EL-Stuffy (Awambe-a-Tiv), APC song composer and Alfred Chado (Swen-u-Tiv), PDP song composer. Data analysis of excerpts from the selected songs was based on the Speech Act Theory by J. L. Austin. The researchers found out that the Tiv political campaign songs of PDP, ACN and APC used between 2011 and 2018 in Benue State were characterised by hate speech which could cause violence prior to and after the elections. Résumé Une enquête sur le discours de haine dans certaines chansons de la campagne politique au pays Tiv Cette étude affirme que le moyen linguistique est un outil puissant utilisé pour susciter des émotions politiques par des poètes spécialisés dans la composition de chansons politiques. Les hommes politiques nigérians utilisent des chansons politiques pour solliciter des votes. Ces chansons ...