Article published in:
The Mediated Communication of Gender and Sexuality in Contemporary PoliticsEdited by Angela Smith and Michael Higgins
[Journal of Language and Politics 19:1] 2020
► pp. 71–88
Clinton stated, Trump exclaimed!
Gendered language on Twitter during the 2016 presidential debates
Andrea McDonnell | Emmanuel College - Massachusetts
This study examines tweets posted by candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in the weeks preceding the 2016
presidential debates in an effort to assess the ways in which the candidates’ language use either conformed to or refuted gender
stereotypes. Analysis of 490 tweets (724 sentences) suggests that both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton used language in ways that
were gender counterstereotypic. Clinton’s tweets contained a significantly greater number of statements and directives, suggesting
that the candidate adopted a more masculine linguistic style, but also a greater number of cooperative words, which are
stereotypically associated with feminine speech. Trump’s tweets contained a significantly greater number of exclamations, but
fewer statements and directives than Clinton, thus defying masculine linguistic stereotypes. The implications of these findings on
candidates’ political self-presentation are discussed.
Keywords: gender, language, Twitter, political communication, social media, stereotypes, hypermasculinity
Article outline
- 1.Media, politics and gender
- 2.Gendered language on twitter
- 3.Method
- 4.Results
- 5.Discussion
- Conclusions
- Acknowledgements
-
References
Published online: 15 January 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.19085.mcd
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.19085.mcd
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