Film Dialogue as Pragmatic Performance: A Socio-Cultural Analysis of Tunde Kelani’s Thunderbolt and Narrow Path

Abstract

Film dialogue functions as a dynamic communicative event where language is used not only to advance narrative but also to perform actions, negotiate meaning, and reflect socio-cultural realities. Although previous studies on Nigerian films have examined their thematic, moral, and ideological elements, limited attention has been given to how characters’ utterances operate as context-driven pragmatic acts. This study investigates the influence of context on conversational exchanges in selected Mainframe Films, Thunderbolt (Magun) and Narrow Path, with a view to identifying the pragmatic acts performed and determining how these acts contribute to meaning-making within the films. The study adopts a modified version of Mey’s (2001) Pragmatic Acts Theory, which emphasises activity parts (dialogue acts) and contextual features such as inference, reference, relevance, metaphor, shared situational and shared cultural knowledge, which form an integral part of movies, situating utterances in appropriate contexts to produce practs. Dialogues purposively selected from Thunderbolt (2001) and Narrow Path (2006) were analysed for their thematic and communicative significance. Each utterance was examined in relation to its contextual parameters to determine the practs generated and their contributions to interactional meaning. Findings reveal that the contexts of culture, conflict, morality, and social expectation serve as dominant backgrounds of conversational exchange in both films. The pragmatic acts identified include authenticating and disclaiming, condemning and substantiating, advising and warning, imploring and appealing, cautioning and challenging, pacifying and substantiating. These acts demonstrate how characters engage with Yoruba cultural norms, negotiate moral accountability, validate belief systems, and resist or reinforce societal expectations. Moreover, acts such as imploring, cautioning, challenging, mocking, and substantiating affirm the embeddedness of Yoruba communicative logic within cinematic discourse. The study concludes that film dialogue operates as pragmatic performance where meaning emerges from the interaction of linguistic action and contextual knowledge. It affirms that pragmatic acts in Yoruba-rooted films are culturally motivated and serve as important resources for constructing social relations, validating worldviews, and interpreting human experience.

Keywords: Film Dialogue, Pragmatic Acts, Context, Thunderbolt, Narrow Path, Yoruba   Culture