Abstract

Language users violate linguistic conventions because meaning is not exhaustive. They control language for effective communication. This study attempts a classification of locutionary (communicative) strategies via an analysis of selected utterances from Nigerian film discourses (recorded conversational exchanges). The analysis presents the contextual nuances that direct each utterance (P-crafting Features). For the elucidation of direct, indirect, literal and non-literal communicative potentials of illocutionary acts, this study hinges on Bach and Harnish’s Speech Act Schemata. For the explanation of the pragmatic nuances that impinge on language use, the study explores Acheoah’s Pragma-crafting Theory. The study concludes that locutionary strategies include: using quantifications that do not seem complete; ascribing quality to the object requested; offering to do what H will not accept; using a constituent to demand a whole; declaring what H will not do if he possesses a certain quality; and expressing a dissentive on gratitude.