Language and gender in Congressional speech

Abstract

This study draws from a large corpus of Congressional speeches from the 101st to the 110th Congress (1989–2008), to examine gender differences in language use in a setting of political debates. Female legislators’ speeches demonstrated characteristics of both a feminine language style (e.g. more use of emotion words, fewer articles) and a masculine one (e.g. more nouns and long words, fewer personal pronouns). A trend analysis found that these gender differences have consistently existed in the Congressional speeches over the past 20 years, regardless of the topic of debate. The findings lend support to the argument that gender differences in language use persist in professional settings like the floor of Congress.