Pragmeme of political humour in selected political cartoons in Nigerian newspapers

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Abstract: Several studies have been conducted regarding the object of humour based research but few attention has been given Cartoon Motivated humour (CMH) in Nigerian discourse. Thus, this study explores a pragmatic study of political humour in selected political cartoons. It investigates humour that reflect the corruption, embezzlement, economic and health challenges in Nigeria shared through the selected political cartoons. The theoretical framework adopted is Jacob Mey's Pragmatic Act Theory. A total of Twelve (12) data were purposively selected from three different newspapers ( The Punch, The Daily Trust and The Vanguard ). The paper found out that the humour in political cartoon is to evoke laughter with the intention to correct the societal ills of the political leaders. This is achieved through the practs of informing, castigating, ridiculing, exposing, blaming, etc. The paper also revealed that pragmatic elements such as inference, (INF), Relevance (REL), Reference (REF) and Shared Situational Knowledge (SSK) were used to expose the hidden messages in the selected political cartoons. The study also examines the use of language in political humour and the study employs qualitative method of research. The study reveals the inference, reference, inferred alongside the Shared Situational Knowledge meaning of the data used which played a crucial role in understanding the interpretation of the pract performed in political cartoon. The paper concludes that the humour in political cartoon doesn't only evoke laughter but correct societal ills and the way language is used by political leaders in Nigeria.


Introduction
Humour, a natural phenomenon in human society, is as old as the use of language communication in its different forms of verbal and non-verbal expressions; humour has its potential to consciously or unconsciously evoke laughter from audience. According to Ross (1998: 2), "humour is capable of creating an atmosphere of relief from anxiety, anger and pain; its profile is high in the society", as it performs a lot of roles in human society. Katayama (2009:.125), posits that 'humour brings people together under shared laughter'. This indicates that as opposed to being an individualised phenomenon, humour is a collective phenomenon. This means that it functions as a means of uniting people. Besides this, humour also has some sociological roles (Campisano, 2016). Friedman and Kuipers (2013: 181) submit that‚ 'there is no complete sociological consensus regarding the sociological roles of humour. Be that as it may, humour performs the function of promoting social inclusion and exclusion'.
Political humour includes any humorous text that not only makes reference to politics, but achieves the goal of politics by dealing with political issues, people, processes, events, or institutions. It is known to be a communicative resource for spotting, highlighting, and attacking incongruities originating in political discourse and action (Popa, 2011). These incongruities are those political shortcomings that constitute a deviation from political norms, and consequently, in view of this nonconformity, become undoubtedly source material for the media. Political humour informs its audience about this political reality, and points out that this is, in fact, an incongruous reality (Tsakona & Popa, 2011). It commonly evolves into jokes or satirical verbal and non-verbal genres that accompany political commentary, comic sketches aiming to ridicule the blunders of politicians ruling the country: their decisions, |79 behaviour, or attitudes (Poprawa, n.d.); which could be in the forms of incompetence, recklessness, or corruption, among others.
However, the study of cartooning in a communicative context was legitimized by artists whose sketched lines summarised complicated events, articulating messages which painstakingly encapsulate those metaphorical 1,000 words into a single picture" (Davies, 2004). The humorous, cultural and societal outrage such forms generate highlights the cartoon's capacity to act as barometers of political freedom in societies (Sandbrook, 2010), reflecting "cultural attitudes and values, and record and perpetuate many commonly held beliefs" (Mazid, 2008). These visual artifacts can generate brief barbs of criticism which emphasise the weaknesses of their chosen subjects, frequently outpacing news articles which articulate similar commentary. Hence, cartoons have over the years become a major feature of newspaper and magazine curtain in Nigeria. A paranomic observation would reveal the most daily newspaper and weekly magazines publish various cartoons and comics strips. Most Nigerian newspapers published cartoon and comics strips on social, political and economic affairs of the country or as illustrations of some editorial matter.
Political cartoons is one of the powerful virtual communication in Nigeria Newspaper.it serves as a medium through which people are informed, educated and entertained by presenting societal happenings in hilarious manner. Political cartoons are therefore embedded in history and are particularly constructed for a specific viewership in a very specific context (Walker, 2003). These cartoons reflect the popular culture. They provide an insight into the social trends and account for how particular events make particular shared meanings for a specific social group (Rosa, 2012). They are the storehouse of the collectively shared meanings. One particular aspect of the political cartoons is that they are almost satirical. They amuse their viewers through humour that can easily be accepted without resistance; impacting the audience due to the spontaneous manner in which the message is delivered (Walker, 2003). Most of the time, these cartoons ridicule the public figures and the parties, highlighting the difference between the privileged and the less privileged of the society. Their unsubstantiated allegations serve to reflect the irony, illogicality or inadequacy of situations. Therefore, cartoons and humour are media reverse that have immemorially maintained an undeniable presence and influence in the communication of the old social institution known as politics. Cartoon humour are based on several societal ills either bad or good. Humour are not only done for political but also in economics affairs such as Fashion, Entertainments, Schools, Infrastructural facilities and so on. One linguistic tool that reveals the intention of images such as cartoons is pragmatics.
Pragmatics is a branch of linguistics that is focused on how words are used to perform various acts, how meaning is negotiated between speaker and hearer, and the pivotal role context plays in the interpretation of an utterance as well as to explain aspects of meaning which cannot be found in the plain sense of words or structures. According to Mey (2007: 6), "pragmatic studies the use of language in human communication as determined by the conditions of society". Generally, it is concerned with the way we convey meaning in any given social context through the medium of language. This meaning includes verbal as well as non-verbal meanings and it varies depending on the context, the relationship between interlocutors, and many other social factors. One of the background knowledge of pragmatics helps one to contextualise and interpret the intended meaning inherent in a political interview. This study therefore embarks on a pragmatic study of selected political humour in order to explore how politicians use language to perform several acts, say one thing and mean another and the pivotal role that context plays in meaning explication. It is against this backdrop this paper attempts to study a pragmatic study of selected political humour in Nigerian Newspapers.

Review of Related Concepts Cartoon
A cartoon is a type of illustration that is typically drawn, sometimes animated, in an unrealistic or semi realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images intended for satire, caricature, or humor; or a motion picture that relies on a sequence of illustrations for its animation. Someone who creates cartoons in the first sense is called a cartoonist, and in the second sense they are usually called an animator. (Miriam Webster Dictionary, 2022). In print media, a cartoon is an illustration or series of illustrations, usually humorous in intent. This usage dates from 1843, when Punch magazine applied the term to satirical drawings in its pages, particularly sketches by John Leech. (Adler & Hill 2008). The first of these parodied the preparatory cartoons for grand historical frescoes in the then-new Palace of Westminster. The original title for these Cartoons can be divided into gag cartoons, which include editorial cartoons, and comic strips. Modern single-panel gag cartoons, found in magazines, generally drawings was Mr. Punch's face is the letter Q and the new title "cartoon" was intended to be ironic, a reference to the self-aggrandizing posturing of Westminster politicians. consist of a single drawing with a typeset caption positioned beneath, or-less often-a speech balloon.

Humour
The study of humour has traditionally been seen as a subpart of the study of aesthetics, and therefore has been of interest primarily to philosophers (Edwards, 1967). It has been studied from as far back as Plato and Aristotle (Attardo, 1994). The first of these two Greek philosophers to have considered the nature of humour and laughter was Plato (Ferrar, 1992). He believed that the absurd was based on an unfortunate lack of self-knowledge, claiming in Philebus that when we laugh at what is ridiculous in others, we are experiencing a combination of both delight and envy, that is, we mix together both pain and pleasure (Plato, 1861). Aristotle also considered the nature of Ludicrous in the second part of Poetics. It is held that he also believed the ridiculous a something rather ugly and distorted (Ferrar, 1992;Attardo, 1994). The studies of humour range across academic disciplines from psychology, sociology, anthropology, literature, medicine, mathematics and linguistics.

Political humour
Political humour includes any humorous text that not only makes reference to politics, but achieves the goal of politics by dealing with political issues, people, processes, events, or institutions. It is known to be a communicative resource for spotting, highlighting, and attacking incongruities originating in political discourse and action (Tsakona & Popa, 2011;Chun, 2004;Warner, 2007). These incongruities are those political shortcomings that constitute a deviation from political norms, and consequently, in view of this nonconformity, become undoubtedly source material for the media. Political humour informs its audience about this political reality, and points out that this is, in fact, an incongruous reality (Tsakona & Popa, 2011). It commonly evolves into jokes or satirical verbal and non-verbal genres that accompany political commentary, comic sketches aiming to ridicule the blunders of politicians ruling the country: their decisions, behaviour, or attitudes (Poprawa, n.d.); which could be in the forms of incompetence, recklessness, or corruption, among others. Political humour is one of the tasks of political cartoons, and it is prevalent in this media genre (political cartoons) because of its communicative potential without serious fear of reprisal. Although political cartoons may appear to be superficial, there is actually more to their triviality than meets the eyes. For every significant political discourse, cartoonists are able to extract vital news items, and in turn, replicate them with pictorial humorous edges in order to appeal to their readership. Consequently, by distilling political arguments and criticism into clear, easily digestible (and at times grossly caricatured) statements, they have oiled our political debate and helped shape public opinion (Greste, 2015). In a similar manner, they are able to engage their audience in politics and in the reasonableness of political acts and decisions (Tsakona & Popa, 2011). This audience involvement has been affirmed in Greste's (Grest, 2015).

Theoretical framework
The study uses Mey Pragmatic Act Theory as its theoretical framework

Pragmatic Acts Theory
Mey's pragmatic act theory is an ambitious approach to explain the way programs are represented in pragmatic act in speech situation. His main criticism against the speech act theory is that in order for speech act to be effective they have to be situated: ''they both rely on, and actively create, the situation in which they are realized (Mey, 2001: 218). "In short, there is no speech act but only situated speech acts, or instantiated pragmatic act as a consequently, the emphasis is not on conditions and rules for an individual speech act but on characterizing a general situational prototype (what Mey calls a programme) that can be executed in the situation. Thus, a particular pragmeme can be substantiated and realized through individual pragmatic act. In order words, a pragmatic act is an instance of adapting oneself to a context as well as adapting the context to oneself. For instance: (1). She is after my money Like I care "Like I care'' is a pragmatic act that expresses the pragmeme ''I do not care'', which can also be substantiated by several other concrete pragmatic act such as "I do not care", ''I do not mind'', ''it none of my business''. and others. According to , pragmatic act is situation-derived and situation-constrained. There is no one-to-one relationship between speech act and pragmatic act because the later does not necessarily include specific act of speech. For instance: (2). Mother: -Joshua, what are you doing? Joshua: -Nothing Mother: -Will you stop it immediately.  216) The pragmeme represented by the pragmatic act 'Nothing' can be describe as "trying to get out (opt out) of a conversation" that may lead to far.
Mey's pragmatic act approach his right in a many respects. It is definitely true that speech act never comes alone, but carry always with them several other acts that also contribute to their success in conversation. Some of these other act is strictly-oriented, while other are more general in nature, and may include, besides speech, extra-linguistic aspect of communications such as gestures, intonation, facial mimics, body posture, head movement, laughter, and so on. Besides the role of context is also inevitable. With Mey's words… "No conversational contribution at all can be understood properly unless it is situated within the environment in which it was meant to be understood (Mey, 2001...217). ''Mey also understands the dynamic and dialectical nature of conversation when is fixed about the fact that our acting is determined by what the scene can afford, and by what we can afford on the scene, that is to say the scene, not only determines our acting but also our actions determine and reaffirm the existing scene (Mey, 2001...218). Everything looks good with the pragmatic act theory: relationship of pragmemes and pragmatic act, understanding role of content and dynamic and dialectical nature of conversation.

Pragmemes, Practs and Allopract
Pragmatic acts theory is an attempt to explain the way Pragmemes are represented in pragmatic acts in relation to speech situations. The emphasis is not on conditions and rules for an individual speech act, but on characterising a general situational prototype i.e. a pragmeme that can be executed in the situation. Following the tradition of adopting familiar linguistic terminology terms such as phoneme, morpheme etc. Mey coined the term pragmeme. A particular pragmeme can be substantiated and realised through individual pragmatic acts. For Mey it is the activity (interactants) and the textual part (co(n)text) of the pragmeme that defines a pragmatic act. Pragmemes, to be more precise, represent situational prototypes to which there may be several pragmatic access routes (practs).

Research methodology
This paper is a pragmatic act analysis of selected Cartoon Motivated Humour in the selected Nigerian newspapers. Twelve (12) using a purposive sampling technique from three Newspapers were selected the study (The Punch, Daily Trust, The Vanguard). These Newspapers are widely read across the nation. The data analysed are a creative composition of jokes that reflect Nigerian experiences, perceptions, imaginations and assumptions. They are purposefully composed by Nigerians in order to downplay the effects of the crisis and bring temporary relief to the audience. These humours depict the importance of human lives, health facilities, economic effects, corruption and extortion, political leaders' responsibilities, religious satire, among others. To sustain their originality, the collected jokes were left unedited. The texts were analysed in line with the  PAT (otherwise known as the pragmeme) was used to identify the pragmatic acts (practs) and the role of contexts in the selected texts.

Datum 1 Political Cartoon Humour of Corruption and Embezzlement of Public Funds
The Punch, May 24th, 2021 Pract 1; a. My people, I thank you all for electing me to represent you….in just 2 years the benefits have been tremendous. b. for those of you who may not really recognize me…. I brought this old campaign poster of mine Pract 2: Visual Act.

Pragmeme:
The above pract, caption, and visual is political cartoon humour of an instantiated pragmatic act with the expressive allopract of appreciating and assertive allopract of informing. In the above text is a Nigerian politician (the referent) who on one hand appreciates the masses for electing him to represent them. He also states that the benefit of his post has been tremendous as it can be seen in his stature. On the other hand, the politician however informs the readers that he brought his old campaign poster because of people who may seem not to recognize him because of his new stature. The humour is triggered through the comparison of his old stature to his new stature. The pragmatic metapragmatic joker is therefore metaphorical because there is an obvious difference between the picture in the poster and his new stature. The politician who is now well-fed, robust, and plumb stands firm and holds a poster of himself, and on the poster is the logo of PDP, a political party in Nigeria. It can be inferred (INF) that the politician has been able to embezzle a lot of money since his two years in office through corrupt practices. This is however a normal thing in Nigerian politics. Politicians embezzle a lot of money thus, the country keeps lacking behind in essential areas, and these politicians are however not punished. They live lavishly and the citizens suffer the most. The shared situational knowledge: background knowledge on the corrupt practices by Nigeria politicians. Reference is made to People's Democratic Party (PDP). The Democratic People's Party is a Nigerian political party founded in 2006 by an aggrieved faction of the All Nigeria Peoples Party. The party, which has a broad political base, supports economic deregulation, human rights, and greater funding for health care and education, among other goals. The party has an umbrella as its logo. Although PDP is not written on the poster but the umbrella on the poster symbolizes PDP. However, the cartoonist is biased because corruption is not limited to a particular party alone but to all political parties in Nigeria. about the inconsistency and negligence of the president. It can be inferred (INF) that the caption: Our responsibility is to secure the country, so....(sic) we have a lot of work to do, entails that the president is aware of the insecurity in the country, he therefore states that their main responsibility is to secure the country which means they have a lot of work to do. Since the president is not in the country who then will do these works? The humour is motivated by the visual and caption. Base on the shared situational knowlege(SSK) the Nigerians are mostly aware that the president is always on medical trip during his first ternure., this knowledge will therefore allow them to realize the intended meaning of the a pictorial strip. Reference is made the Nigeria president(Muhammadu Buhari).

Datum 12
The Pragmeme: This is a cartoon humour of an instantiated pragmatic act with the assertive allopracts of disapproval, yelling and stating. These Practs: caption the visual of a man who is ill and brought to the hospital for treatment. The humour is triggered by the visual and caption in the pictorial strips. In the pictorial strips, there is a hut named "General Hospital" and there are two persons who is rushing the patient to the hospital. The man they carried on a stretcher who is on a robe and still on his cap was yelling. The other two persons who carried him with their nose mask on. On other hand, there is a hut where it's named "General Hospital" This symbolises that the man brought in on a stretcher yells that he shouldn't be brought to this kind of hospital while the first speaker says "But it's your project". This means that during coronavirus pandemic, the politician who must have contacted was taken to the general hospital but he yelled that he shouldn't be taken there but the first speaker stating that it is there project so he should use it. In Nigeria, the politician do not us the hospitals build here but prefer to go outside country for proper medication. It can be inferred (INF) that the pictorial strips are a typical representation of a politician who do not want to be treated in such hospital. The Shared Situational Knowledge (SSK) is on the dilapidated health facilities in the country. The above diagram shows reference (REF) made to Nigeria politicians who do not care about the health facilities of their own country.

Findings
The paper has revealed that political meanings rely much on the language factors. The linguistic knowledge has adequately provide the proper language used. The language used are fully embedded with hidden meaning. The report is not straightforward and can only be understood when we look at the implicit meaning. The pragmatic act used for the humour has been able to deduce the meaning behind the use of language and the choice of lexical items of these political cartoons analysed. It gives the inference (INF), reference (REF), relevance (REL) and Shared Situational Knowledge (SSK). The inference (INF) allows the reader to know the inferential meaning of the data, for example, the in-depth meaning of the data. The reference (REF) allows the readers to know who or what exactly is been referred to. The Shared Situational Knowledge (SSK) is the Shared Situational Knowledge, knowledge among the discourse participants in the practs. SSK allows a reader to have a deep understanding of the situations in the data analysed. Readers can contextually and appropriately interpret the lexical meaning of the language used in political humour.

Contribution to Knowledge
The paper has helped in understanding the concept of the humour, and this will help readers detect the hidden meaning and interpret what the humour in the political cartoon is trying to convey. Readers can also understand a particular pictorial strips by having a shared Situational Knowledge, what is been inferred and what been referenced. All these could depict all the meaning behind the political homour.

Conclusion
The paper has been able to examine the humour in political cartoon. It has been able to show the common pragmatic act used in the analysed data. This paper has only adopted Mey's pragmatic Act Theory (PAT) in analysing the data. The study shows the humour in political cartoons is to depict the hidden meaning and to correct the societal ills. It also concludes that readers can appropriately interpret the lexical meaning used in political humour.