Imperatives Evident in the EVP’s Special Message during the General Assembly and Alumni Homecoming of 2018

Abstract

This paper analyzed the imperatives found on the special message of the Executive Vice President (EVP) to the Alumni and Employees of STI West Negros University during the General Assembly and Alumni Homecoming at the University Gymnasium on February 17, 2018. After getting the informed consent, needed linguistic data in MP3 format were obtained from the University Alumni Foundation, transcribed into its written form, forwarded for review and validation to the EVP, and thereafter analyzed using Freeman and Murcia’s (2016) textbook entitled The Grammar Book: Form, Meaning and Use for English Language Teachers. Initial data analyses were subjected to research rigors involving three (3) language majors in reputable schools in Bacolod City. They reviewed accuracy of translation from L1 to L2, as well as the accuracy of the analyses and interpretation of data in response to those five (5) specific objectives. Final data analyses found declarative sentences, and not bare imperative sentences, as the most prevalent imperatives recording an enormous frequency of 62%. The same data provide evidence of offer/invitation and advice/suggestion as the dominant linguistic function, the prevalence of diffuse imperative illustrating requests/commands frequently addressed to everyone or anyone in attendance, the negligible occurrence of negative imperatives, and the use of “Please…” and the emphatic auxiliary do as a proven strategy of increasing politeness. These findings call attention on the need to review and possibly enrich the University’s existing ESL curricula by giving a balanced emphasis on the use of imperatives both in pure talk or institutional talk.