Thesis (MA (African Languages))--Stellenbosch University, 20008. / The goal of this study is to investigate the speech act of persuasion in the Xhosa drama text Isisila sehobe by Satyo and Gwashu. The investigation into persuasive communication in Isisila sehobe takes as a starting point the persuasive strategies of Larson (1999). The study's main aim is to establish the linguistic realisation through which social aspects of isiXhosa persuasion are expressed in Isisila sehobe. The core persuasive message in this text is concerned with marriage. This study shows that some people take as their reasons for marriage materialistic things such as wealth and as a result such marriages seldom materialise or become stable, because people merely stay together for convenience and not love. In Isisila sehobe the results of such a marriage are disastrous, even leading to death. In addition, this study aims to present an account of how characters in Isisila sehobe realise premises and strategies of persuasion in authentic communication, using the framework of persuasion theory (O’Keefe, 1990).