CONFLICT MANAGEMENT: AN ANALYSIS OF POLITENESS STRATEGIES IN NBA PRESIDENT'S APOLOGY LETTER TO NIGERIAN GOVERNOR'S FORUM DIRECTOR-GENERAL (DG)

Abstract

The way conflict, which is an inevitable part of social interaction,is managed or resolved

matters most for the survival and peaceful co-existence of any human society. This study

examines the politeness strategies used in the Nigerian Bar Association's (NBA) President's

apology letter to the Nigerian Governor's Forum Director-General (DG) over the

controversy that ensued from the Association's cancellation of its invitation to Governor

Nasir El-Rufai to its national conference. The objectives of the study were to analyse and

explore the speech acts and politeness strategies used in the letter obtained from Premium

Times. The study used both quantitative and qualitative methods to analyse the data.It also

adopted Kreidler's (1998) model of speech act and Ruhi's (2002) model of politeness for the

examination and interpretation of the data. The analysis of the data reveals the

preponderance of verdictive acts and assertive acts; and selective use of directive acts,

expressive acts, performative act and commissive act that constitute both face-boosting and

threatening acts. The examination of the data shows that the face-boosting acts were used as

self -politeness strategies to enhance the face-value of the writer and the sufferer while the

face-threatening acts were used as other-politeness strategies to attend to the need of the

Governor for public honour and positive association as well as the need of the Association to

cancel the Governor's invitation to avoid social disharmony among its members and the

public. The study concludes that politeness is an important sociolinguistic strategy that can

be used to manage human social conflicts.