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The following data is the result of an analysis of John McCain and Barack Obama's campaign speeches given from February 10, 2007 until August 19, 2008.
When comparing the language of Barack Obama since his announcement for the presidency on February 10, 2007 to John McCain's rhetoric, the following semantic features are significant:
Nouns:
In direct comparison with John McCain, Obama uses significantly more nouns related to time, such as the following (in order of relative frequency):
He also heavily relies on nouns suggesting a collective identity (generation, community, neighborhood), family relations (folk, mother, grandparent, daughter, mom, grandmother).
His references to specific population groups such as woman, immigrant, are also strikingly more frequent than that of John McCain, as is his mentioning of the word people.
In comparison to John McCain, Obama displays a particularly high usage of nouns related to the field of education such as
Adjectives:
In line with his usage of nouns, Obama most used adjectives (in relative frequency to John McCain) are young and 21st, both indicating relations of time.
Obama also, significantly more than McCain, employs adjectives suggesting opportunity
Striking is also the relative frequency of Obama's adjective from the field of energy, such as
Similarly, adjectives suggesting likeness (same), tradition (conventional), or wrong-headedness (misguided) can be found in high statistical frequency.
Relative to McCain, Obama's significantly higher usage of the adjectives indicating race such as white and black is also noteworthy.
author(s): js/mk/nb date: 09/06/2008 title: "Obama's Buzzwords" textid/texts: 1/18
When comparing the language of Barack Obama since his announcement for the presidency on February 10, 2007 to John McCain's rhetoric, the following semantic features are significant:
Nouns:
In direct comparison with John McCain, Obama uses significantly more nouns related to time, such as the following (in order of relative frequency):
- Time
- Century
- Month
- Day
- Moment
- Week
- Today
He also heavily relies on nouns suggesting a collective identity (generation, community, neighborhood), family relations (folk, mother, grandparent, daughter, mom, grandmother).
His references to specific population groups such as woman, immigrant, are also strikingly more frequent than that of John McCain, as is his mentioning of the word people.
In comparison to John McCain, Obama displays a particularly high usage of nouns related to the field of education such as
- College
- Education
- Tuition
- Scientist
- School
- Book
- Lobbyist
- Poverty
- Bankruptcy
- Factory
- Class
- Union
- Corporation
Adjectives:
In line with his usage of nouns, Obama most used adjectives (in relative frequency to John McCain) are young and 21st, both indicating relations of time.
Obama also, significantly more than McCain, employs adjectives suggesting opportunity
- Possible
- Able
- Willing
Striking is also the relative frequency of Obama's adjective from the field of energy, such as
- Renewable
- Fuel-efficient
- Hybrid
- Real
- Meaningful
- Long-term
- Universal
Similarly, adjectives suggesting likeness (same), tradition (conventional), or wrong-headedness (misguided) can be found in high statistical frequency.
Relative to McCain, Obama's significantly higher usage of the adjectives indicating race such as white and black is also noteworthy.
author(s): js/mk/nb date: 09/06/2008 title: "Obama's Buzzwords" textid/texts: 1/18
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