Language on parade

AS you know very well, questions are one of the most pervasive features of language.  They feature frequently in our daily conversations, discussions, and debates, not to mention one form of speech that revolves around them: Interviews.  In this very interview story, the reporter had asked the question: “Do you think imposition of emergency rule would address insecurity situation in affected states?”

Midway into his answer, the interviewee turned the table on the reporter, seemingly, as he posed his own question: “…when they introduced state of emergency in Plateau State by Obasanjo (sic), did it work?  What is the difference between Plateau, Borno, Yobe and Adamawa?”

The interview was titled, “SANI: Emergency Rule Means Use of Force, It Doesn’t Work,” and it was published in The Guardian of Sunday, May 19, 2013.  The person interviewed was Mr. Anthony Sani, National Publicity Secretary of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF).  For the purpose of the business on the language train today, do mark the reporter’s question as QAER1, and the questions by the interviewee as QAER2, and QAER3, respectively.  QAER, of course, stands for Question About Emergency Rule.

In the same edition of The Guardian was another interview story titled, “ONOJA: Jonathan Got It Right This Time.”  To underscore our proclivity for asking questions, let’s see how the interviewee, again, changed from answerer to asker in the middle of answering the question, “How do you respond to feelings that the nature of the declaration is such that will only encourage excesses by the security people?”

Watch how Ambassador Onoja, the president of Next Generation Youth Initiative International (NEGYII), employed a question to answer the question which the reporter asked him: “I do not agree that it will encourage excess by the military.  However, if people think it can, how about the excesses displayed by Boko Haram over time?”  Respectively, the reporter’s question and Onoja’s should be marked QAER4 and QAER5, as we now turn attention to the sundry questions that are being asked about President Goodluck Jonathan’s declaration of emergency rule in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states, known as the BAY states on the language train.

No doubt, questions are an indispensable feature of language, but there are questions and there are questions!  To enable us analyse the sundry questions that many are asking about the emergency rule, let us first have a lowdown.

Psychologists who are interested in the study of language tell us that a person’s language – his or her speech or writing, portrays his or her mind, especially, the state and workings of the person’s mind. The mind, as you know, is where our beliefs, values, knowledge, preferences, etc., reside.  Like psychologists, sociologists who are interested in the study language tell us that our language showcases and reflects our social state, including our sex, race or ethnic group, religion, status,   stereotypes, education, among other things. As a tool of language, questions therefore do tell many things about the persons who ask them.  Examine the nature of questions, and you will see certain characteristics of askers.

The primary basis for such an examination is the type of words that make up the questions, as well as the way they are arranged, that is, their syntax, for questions are but one kind of  sentence.   Another basis for such an examination is the substance of the questions: are they based on fact, hearsay, or opinion?

Lowdown over, what kinds of questions are QAER 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, besides so many other questions that have been asked and are being asked about the emergency rule?  Just take a look at QAER1: “Do you think imposition of emergency rule would address insecurity situation in affected states?”  What kind of question is that?

If I were to describe the question as unfair, opinionative, benign, and substantive, would you see the point of my description?  Mind you, I am not asking whether you agree with me or not.  The question is: “Can you see what those words refer to?”