STANCE LINGUISTIC DEVICES IN TELEVISED DISCOURSE ON THE 2024 NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE NEGOTIATIONS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This study examines the linguistic devices through which the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Federal Government (FG) constructed their stances during televised interviews on the 2024 minimum wage negotiations. Existing studies on minimum wage negotiations in Nigeria have largely concentrated on economic, political, and industrial relations dimensions, with limited attention to the linguistic resources through which negotiating parties communicate and legitimise their positions. Anchored in Du Bois' (2007) Stance Triangle Theory and Martin and White's (2005) Appraisal Theory, the study adopts a qualitative research design. Data were drawn from selected interviews aired on Arise News and Channels Television between January and November 2024 and analysed using discourse-analytic procedures. The findings reveal that both parties strategically deployed modal auxiliaries, evaluative adjectives and adverbs, referential pronouns, metaphors, hedges, boosters, and repetition to express certainty, construct solidarity, project authority, and influence public opinion. The study concludes that stance linguistic devices function not merely as grammatical resources but as strategic tools for persuasion, legitimation, and ideological positioning in labour-government negotiations.