Title

The Relationship Between Candidate Sex and Pronoun Usage in a Louisiana Governor's Race

Authors

Mary Lynne Gasaway Hill, St. Mary's University, San Antonio, TXFollow

Files

Publication Date

Fall 2005

Description

This study explores the usage of pronouns in two political debates by ten candidates (seven male, three female) in the 1995 Louisiana governor's race. The purpose of the study was to examine whether patterns associated with male and female pronoun usage held in an environment where males and females had the same communicative needs. Proforms were examined to determine if they were functioning inclusively (speaker including the addressee), a pattern associated with female usage, or exclusively (speaker excluding the addressee), a pattern associated with male usage. The results of statistical testing found that the relationship between the male candidates and exclusive proform usage was statistically significant but not the relationship between the female candidates and inclusive proform usage. Another finding was that the males used more pronouns overall, including inclusive ones, than their female counterparts.

Disciplines

American Politics | Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication | Social Influence and Political Communication

Keywords

language usage, gender, pronoun usage, political communication

Medium

journal article

Copyright date

2005

Description

This study explores the usage of pronouns in two political debates by ten candidates (seven male, three female) in the 1995 Louisiana governor's race. The purpose of the study was to examine whether patterns associated with male and female pronoun usage held in an environment where males and females had the same communicative needs. Proforms were examined to determine if they were functioning inclusively (speaker including the addressee), a pattern associated with female usage, or exclusively (speaker excluding the addressee), a pattern associated with male usage. The results of statistical testing found that the relationship between the male candidates and exclusive proform usage was statistically significant but not the relationship between the female candidates and inclusive proform usage. Another finding was that the males used more pronouns overall, including inclusive ones, than their female counterparts.