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An Analysis of James Orengo’s Speech at Raila Odinga’s Burial through Grice’s Conversational Maxims

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The burial of Raila Odinga, a prominent Kenyan political figure, attracted a multitude of national leaders and citizens who came to pay their final respects. Among the speakers was James Orengo, the Governor of Siaya County and a long-time ally of the late Odinga. Orengo’s speech, as reported by several media outlets, was emotional, bold, and politically charged. While it captured the sentiments of many supporters, a closer linguistic examination reveals that it flouted and violated several of Paul Grice’s conversational maxims — the maxims of Quality, Quantity, Relation, and Manner. These maxims, developed under the Cooperative Principle, guide effective and logical communication between speakers and listeners. The Maxim of Quality emphasizes truthfulness and the need for adequate evidence in any communication. Orengo’s assertion that “Raila’s votes were stolen in 2017” exemplifies a possible violation of this maxim. Although the statement echoes a long-standin...
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TECHNOLOGY AND LITERATURE

What changes do you think technology has contributed to the evolution of literature ? Technology makes it possible to have oral literary works easy to capture, preserve,and shared to millions of internet users and audiences worldwide. Introduction of new forms of technology prevents extinction of oral literary works as well as influencing it's growth and development. Before technology was introduced, transmission depended on oral performance. It's preservation solely depended on the performers memory as well as that of the community. Later on, discovery of print technology aided in preservation of texts. Although technology has helped in preservation of written forms of literature, it has failed in capturing all aspects of performance like non-verbal cues.  In capturing of details of a performance, all details from the artist should be put into account. However this cannot be put into paper because they don't indicate the artists body movement as well as audience participa...
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