Proverbial Language Of American Presidents (1945-2008) : A Digital Methods Approach of the Use of Proverbs in Political Discourse

Abstract: Political language's power to influence public opinion drives the present investigation into proverbs used by presidents during 1945-2008. The study’s purpose is to explore the proverbial language of American presidents, employing a digital methods approach. In addition to the predominant use of quantitative and comparative analyses, qualitative analysis is also occasionally employed. The research examines proverb frequency, patterns, and shifts in political speeches, revealing shared trends and distinctive usage of the proverbs. It also considers presidency duration and political circumstances, uncovering the presidents that favored proverbs in their discourses. Adopting computational means and tools, the study intends to cover gaps in existing research by quantifying proverb usage, focusing on the nuanced sociopolitical fabric. The research is based on vast bibliographic references including studies conducted by old paremiologists, as well as modern computational endeavors. Although the proverbs’ nature involves challenges such as metaphoricity, and existence of variants can cause difficulties in their identification by the tools, the research has been completed, answered all research questions that spanned proverb presence, evolution, and disparities among presidents' speeches, and produced interesting results. Overall, the research enhances understanding of proverbs' role in political discourse, revealing how politicians shape leadership communication through language. Due to the fact that all data was retrieved by open accessed sources, the research has not encountered any copyright issues. Some of the findings were expected, while others were unpredicted. The alternating sequence of challenges and achievements resulted in an understanding of previously raised questions as well as the need to tackle new ones.