Analyzing Lexical Simplification in Interviews of Donald Trump and Joe Biden: Tracking the Trend of Simplification in Presidential Discourse Using Lexical Sophistication Indices

Abstract

This research aimed to explore whether the observed lexical simplification in Donald Trumps interviews is an idiosyncratic trait of his linguistic style or if it transcends to his successor, Joe Biden. To achieve a nuanced analysis, the research introduced novel indices of lexical sophistication, moving beyond traditional surface-level lexical measures such as lexical density and lexical diversity. These new indices gauged the use of difficult words, taking into account academic language and psycholinguistic properties such as concreteness, familiarity, imageability, and meaningfulness. While results based on surface-level lexical indices did not reveal any discernible trend, findings derived from the lexical sophistication indices indicated that lexical simplification was not exclusive to Trump. Instead, it emerged as a trend that persisted in Bidens interviews notably in aspects such as the use of academic words, concreteness, and, to some extent, meaningfulness.