An Empirical Analysis of Popular Press Claims Regarding Linguistic Change in President Donald J. Trump
Linguistic features of a person’s speech can change over time. It has been proposed that characteristics in the speech of President Donald J. Trump (DJT) have changed across time, though this claim has been based on subjective and anecdotal reports. A previous study of speech by Presidents of the Un...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2018-11-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02311/full |
| _version_ | 1818909720725946368 |
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| author | Marc N. Coutanche Marc N. Coutanche Marc N. Coutanche John P. Paulus John P. Paulus |
| author_facet | Marc N. Coutanche Marc N. Coutanche Marc N. Coutanche John P. Paulus John P. Paulus |
| author_sort | Marc N. Coutanche |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Linguistic features of a person’s speech can change over time. It has been proposed that characteristics in the speech of President Donald J. Trump (DJT) have changed across time, though this claim has been based on subjective and anecdotal reports. A previous study of speech by Presidents of the United States identified an increase in the use of conversational fillers and non-specific nouns, and lower unique word counts, in the speech of President Ronald W. Reagan, but not in the speech of President George H.W. Bush. To empirically test claims of a systematic change in speech by DJT, we applied the same analysis by transcribing and analyzing publicly available Fox News interviews with DJT between 2011 and 2017. A regression analysis revealed a significant increase in the use of filler words by DJT over time. There was no significant change in numbers of unique words. The observed rise in filler words was significantly greater than filler-word change in President George H.W. Bush, and was not significantly different from the rise previously found in the speech of President Ronald W. Reagan. Identifying the reason for this linguistic change is not possible from speech samples alone, and the variables index linguistic change rather than being validated measures of change in cognitive ability. Nonetheless, features of the data such as the trajectory starting years before announcement of candidacy rule-out several potential explanations. To summarize, we find statistical evidence to support suggestions that speech by DJT has changed over time. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T22:31:24Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ade8fdb7b8af4d06ba6bcbffd6b4cb79 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T22:31:24Z |
| publishDate | 2018-11-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-ade8fdb7b8af4d06ba6bcbffd6b4cb792022-12-21T20:03:20ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782018-11-01910.3389/fpsyg.2018.02311389297An Empirical Analysis of Popular Press Claims Regarding Linguistic Change in President Donald J. TrumpMarc N. Coutanche0Marc N. Coutanche1Marc N. Coutanche2John P. Paulus3John P. Paulus4Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United StatesLearning Research and Development Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United StatesBrain Institute, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United StatesDepartment of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United StatesLearning Research and Development Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United StatesLinguistic features of a person’s speech can change over time. It has been proposed that characteristics in the speech of President Donald J. Trump (DJT) have changed across time, though this claim has been based on subjective and anecdotal reports. A previous study of speech by Presidents of the United States identified an increase in the use of conversational fillers and non-specific nouns, and lower unique word counts, in the speech of President Ronald W. Reagan, but not in the speech of President George H.W. Bush. To empirically test claims of a systematic change in speech by DJT, we applied the same analysis by transcribing and analyzing publicly available Fox News interviews with DJT between 2011 and 2017. A regression analysis revealed a significant increase in the use of filler words by DJT over time. There was no significant change in numbers of unique words. The observed rise in filler words was significantly greater than filler-word change in President George H.W. Bush, and was not significantly different from the rise previously found in the speech of President Ronald W. Reagan. Identifying the reason for this linguistic change is not possible from speech samples alone, and the variables index linguistic change rather than being validated measures of change in cognitive ability. Nonetheless, features of the data such as the trajectory starting years before announcement of candidacy rule-out several potential explanations. To summarize, we find statistical evidence to support suggestions that speech by DJT has changed over time.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02311/fulllinguisticslanguagecognitionlinguistic changepresidentTrump |
| spellingShingle | Marc N. Coutanche Marc N. Coutanche Marc N. Coutanche John P. Paulus John P. Paulus An Empirical Analysis of Popular Press Claims Regarding Linguistic Change in President Donald J. Trump Frontiers in Psychology linguistics language cognition linguistic change president Trump |
| title | An Empirical Analysis of Popular Press Claims Regarding Linguistic Change in President Donald J. Trump |
| title_full | An Empirical Analysis of Popular Press Claims Regarding Linguistic Change in President Donald J. Trump |
| title_fullStr | An Empirical Analysis of Popular Press Claims Regarding Linguistic Change in President Donald J. Trump |
| title_full_unstemmed | An Empirical Analysis of Popular Press Claims Regarding Linguistic Change in President Donald J. Trump |
| title_short | An Empirical Analysis of Popular Press Claims Regarding Linguistic Change in President Donald J. Trump |
| title_sort | empirical analysis of popular press claims regarding linguistic change in president donald j trump |
| topic | linguistics language cognition linguistic change president Trump |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02311/full |
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