PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS OF SELECTED CHRISTIAN HYMNS

This paper seeks to interrogate the assumption that there are problems in understanding and interpreting Christian hymns if the background and contextual features are not considered. Another assumption is that the misunderstanding of the use of certain hymns which make certain denominations distinct from others, though united in the spirit of Christianity, can cause chaos if the context and background of the denomination is not considered. Pragmatic Analysis of selected Christian hymns attempts to answer these different disparities. The problematic of this paper focuses on exploring the differences in the conveyance of intended meaning of messages of the selected Catholic, Protestant and Pentecostal hymns. This is hinged on the belief that the doctrinal disposition of any denomination is often expressed in the language of the hymns. Hence, the doctrinal content of a hymn and the performance acts of a hymn could differ and not mutually shared. Selected Catholic hymns for the analysis include: Sweet Sacrament Devine, The Exsultet, We Offer Thee the Holy mass. Protestant hymns include: How Great Thou Art, A Mighty Fortress, Stand Up! Stand Up! For Jesus, and selected Pentecostal hymns include: Have Faith in God, Pentecostal Power, Blessed Assurance. The hymns are categorised on the premise that the content message in each hymn is easily identifiable with the denomination in the sense that the doctrinal disposition of any of the denomination is often expressed in the hymns. The analysis of the hymns is carried out with the intent of showing further the similarities and dissimilarities in language use of the hymns. The theoretical frame work used in the research is Austin's Speech Acts theory which holds that language users make meaningful sounds in order to produce certain actions. He distinguishes five types of acts performed through speech namely; verdictive, expositive, exercitives, commissive and behabitives. The data chosen for the analysis were selected from the hymnal of the three denominations, namely; Catholic, Protestant and Pentecostal. Hence, in line with Austin's Speech Acts, hymns perform various acts whose illocutionary forces and perlocutionary effects would make them more appealing. The study confirms that hymns like other discourse events have the advantage of performing simultaneously all the components of Speech Act in one utterance. The finding show that Catholic hymns have one area of non-performance in language use, that is verdictive. It is only the hymns from the Protestant Church that have an index performance in all the five illocutionary acts. Therefore, Protestant hymns are more elaborate in content and lyrics. Pentecostal hymns rank least in the analysis because they have three areas of non-performance in language use, which include, verdictive, behabitive and expositive. This could mean that Pentecostal hymns are short, have less content, short and simple lyrics, and therefore more entertaining.

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