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Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Right Wing vs. Left Wing Grammar

 Researchers at the University of Kent believe that right-wingers and left-wingers tend to construct sentences in different ways - and that conservatives have a greater predilection for using nouns (labelling) over adjectives (recognizing traits and qualities). This is profound and fits in with George Lakoff's research. 
     This new study drew on research carried out in Poland, Lebanon, and the USA, looking at the language used in political speeches.
They found that conservatives tend to refer to things by their names, rather than in terms of their features - saying someone is "an optimist" rather than "optimistic" or saying "Steve is a homosexual" rather than "Steve is homosexual." Think about that. I would also bet that conservatives use the verb "to be" more than left wingers. Trying to find the original studies has been difficult so far. It is hard to do good research when you aren't connected to an institution with a real library and it's online services.

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