Pronoun Usage as a Measure of Power Personalization: A General Theory with Evidence from the Chinese-Speaking World
Pronoun Usage as a Measure of Power Personalization: A General Theory with Evidence from the Chinese-Speaking World
复制标题
代词使用作为权力个性化的衡量标准：基于华语世界证据的一般理论
DOI：
10.1017/s0007123421000181
复制
发表时间：
2021
影响因子：
5
通讯作者：
Amy H. Liu
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Amy H. Liu
摘要权力的日益个性化如何被事先识别和衡量？专制文献中现存的措施传统上集中在制度约束上，最近则集中在个人行为上--例如从政府机构中清除反对派成员（并将盟友纳入政府机构）。本文提供了一种不同的策略，研究领导者的个人言论。它侧重于第一人称代词的使用模式。作者认为，当领导者将权力个人化时，他们不太可能使用“我”（一个与信用索赔和责任最小化有关的代词），而更可能使用“我们”（领导者代表-或与-民众一起说话）。为了验证这一论点，这项研究集中于整个华语世界--即中国、新加坡和台湾--自独立以来所有首席执行官的所有重大、预定演讲。它发现了第一人称代词和政治约束之间的一个强大的模式。为了确保调查结果不受中国样本的影响，其他四位政治领导人的言论也被考虑在内：阿尔巴尼亚的霍查、朝鲜的金日成、匈牙利的欧尔班和厄瓜多尔的科雷亚。这个项目的意义表明，领导者如何说话可以提供他们如何看待自己的规则的见解。
Abstract How can the growing personalization of power be identified and measured ex ante? Extant measures in the authoritarian literature have traditionally focused on institutional constraints and more recently on individual behaviour – such as purging opposition members from (and packing allies into) government bodies. This article offers a different strategy that examines leaders’ individual rhetoric. It focuses on patterns of pronoun usage for the first person. The author argues that as leaders personalize power, they are less likely to use ‘I’ (a pronoun linked to credit claiming and blame minimizing) and more likely to use ‘we’ (the leader speaks for – or with – the populace). To test this argument, the study focuses on all major, scheduled speeches by all chief executives in the entire Chinese-speaking world – that is, China, Singapore and Taiwan – since independence. It finds a robust pattern between first-person pronouns and political constraints. To ensure the results are not driven by the Chinese sample, the rhetoric of four other political leaders is considered: Albania's Hoxha, North Korea's Kim Il Sung, Hungary's Orbán and Ecuador's Correa. The implications of this project suggest that how leaders talk can provide insights into how they perceive their rule.