LINGUISTIC MANIFESTATIONS OF AGGRESSIVE SPEECH BEHAVIORS OF MALE AND FEMALE POLITICIANS IN TELEVISED DEBATES

Abstract

With more women entering politics, it is unclear if they are held to the same standards as their male counterparts or if they must adjust to new voter expectations. According to the Language Expectancy Theory, women are less successful than men in persuasion through verbal aggression because they are thought to go against social norms on acceptable behavior while men’s aggressive behavior is not perceived negatively. It is assumed that people form expectations about linguistic actions (language as a tool for communication) that ultimately influence their acceptance or rejection of persuasive messages. Men and women are expected to behave differently when being verbally aggressive, and those who do not fit these expectations are viewed more negatively than those who adhere to them. This research looks at two political debates to analyze aggressive speech behaviors of male and female politicians held on 19th February 2020 in Las Vegas and 15th October 2019 in Ohio . The study examines the linguistic manifestations of aggressive speech behaviors of male and female politicians in televised debates, considering the effects of the gender of the speakers. Two democratic presidential debates were used in this research.