Positivizers as Tension De-Escalating Strategies in Nigerian Government Press Statements on Border Conflict between Nigeria and Benin Republic

Abstract

Previous studies on digital government communication have largely examined the role of official press statements in information dissemination, crisis communication, and public engagement during conflicts, with limited attention to the specific linguistic resources through which governments de-escalate interstate tensions. Situated within the Peace Linguistics orientation, the study examined how positivizers function as tension de-escalating strategies in Nigerian government press statements on the Nigeria–Benin border conflict.  The study adopts a qualitative research design based on purposively selected government press statements issued between 2019 and 2024. Analysis was  carried out using insights from  Halliday's Systemic Functional Linguistics, Gomes de Matos' Communicative Peace framework, and Galtung's Positive Peace Theory. The findings revealed that positivizers are realised through recurrent lexico-grammatical features, including verbal, material, mental and relational processes, diplomacy-oriented nominal groups, future-oriented modal resources, and collaborative circumstantial elements. These linguistic resources function as dialogic, cooperative, empathetic, legitimising, institutional, reassurance, and collaborative positivizers that promote dialogue, cooperation, institutional responsibility, reassurance, and shared regional identity. The study concludes that positivizers are systematically realised through recurring lexico-grammatical patterns rather than isolated positive lexical items and that Nigerian government press statements strategically employ these resources to de-escalate diplomatic tension and sustain peaceful interstate relations.