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Liberals lecture, conservatives communicate: Analyzing complexity and ideology in 381,609 political speeches

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  • Martijn Schoonvelde
  • Anna Brosius
  • Gijs Schumacher
  • Bert N Bakker

Abstract

There is some evidence that liberal politicians use more complex language than conservative politicians. This evidence, however, is based on a specific set of speeches of US members of Congress and UK members of Parliament. This raises the question whether the relationship between ideology and linguistic complexity is a more general phenomenon or specific to this small group of politicians. To address this question, this paper analyzes 381,609 speeches given by politicians from five parliaments, by twelve European prime ministers, as well as speeches from party congresses over time and across countries. Our results replicate and generalize earlier findings: speakers from culturally liberal parties use more complex language than speakers from culturally conservative parties. Economic left-right differences, on the other hand, are not systematically linked to linguistic complexity.

Suggested Citation

  • Martijn Schoonvelde & Anna Brosius & Gijs Schumacher & Bert N Bakker, 2019. "Liberals lecture, conservatives communicate: Analyzing complexity and ideology in 381,609 political speeches," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(2), pages 1-15, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0208450
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0208450
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