Journal article
Gender, language, and representation in the United States Senate
Journal of language and politics, Vol.21(6), pp.919-943
10/27/2022
DOI: 10.1075/jlp.21053.win
Abstract
We explore how gendered language in Senate floor debates evolves between the 101st and 109th sessions (N=229,526 speeches). We hypothesize that female Senators speak like women in the general population, that their speeches focus on traditionally designated women's issues, and that they use female linguistic strategies found in the general population when discussing low politics or women's issues. We also expect women to speak like legislators, adopting more male linguistic approaches for high politics issues or in election year speeches and for female senators to use more male linguistics as time served in the Senate increases. Using a suite of computational linguistics approaches such as topic modeling (Latent Dirichlet Allocation), syntax and semantic analysis (Coh-Metrix), and sentiment analysis (LIWC), our analyses highlight the distinct roles of women speaking for women (e.g. promoting issues like education or healthcare), women speaking like women (e.g. using personal pronouns), and women speaking as Senators.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Gender, language, and representation in the United States Senate
- Creators
- Leah Windsor - University of MemphisSara McLaughlin Mitchell - University of IowaTracy Osborn - University of IowaBryce Dietrich - University of IowaAndrew J. Hampton - Christian Brothers University
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Journal of language and politics, Vol.21(6), pp.919-943
- Publisher
- John Benjamins Publishing Co
- DOI
- 10.1075/jlp.21053.win
- ISSN
- 1569-2159
- eISSN
- 1569-9862
- Number of pages
- 25
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 10/27/2022
- Academic Unit
- University College Courses; Law Faculty; Political Science; Public Policy Center (Archive); Center for Social Science Innovation
- Record Identifier
- 9984315760002771
Metrics
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