It’s often thought that the political tone of politicians is linked to changes in the economy, general language use, people’s well-being or ideology. However, this cannot be systematically determined, according to political communication scientist Mariken van der Velden. In collaboration with Christian Pipal, Bert Bakker and Gijs Schumacher, she researched word usage and emotions in politics.
To reach this conclusion, the communication scientists from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam delved into the political debates of seven European national parliaments over a period of 30 years. They used sentiment analysis to give scores to negative and positive language use. “The analysis showed that the sentiment of the opposition’s language use is more negative than that of the government currently in power. Moreover, hopeful language is often used, even in challenging times. This means that political debates do not necessarily contain more negative language when difficult issues are being addressed,” according to Van der Velden.
Different baselines
Van der Velden also states that the way politicians talk and the words they use can differ per country. For instance, Germans speak differently than Spaniards or Italians. “Politicians in Northern European countries often speak in a more businesslike way than those in Southern European countries. They use fewer words with strong temperament. Comparing one-on-one would therefore not be fair. We accounted for this in the statistics by using different baselines,” she says.
Assumptions and responsibilities
“Politicians who put more emotion into their language are generally taken less seriously. It can even cause the content of what they’re saying to be seen as inferior. Making assumptions about language use in politics also brings responsibility, especially for journalists, scientists and other commentators. When they’re more aware when making claims in the public domain, it can ensure that the information provided remains nuanced,” says Van der Velden.