Verbal Style

Verbal style was proposed by Roderick P. Hart as a method to analyze the rhetoric of presidents of the United States. Such analysis was an effort to determine the rhetorical effectiveness of the president. Because [Page 807]American presidents do not take up arms, perform manual labor, or perform medical surgery on their constituents, their primary way of leading is through the spoken word. The method of verbal style provides a computer-based content analysis of the words spoken by presidents during speeches. The word counts are then subjected to statistical analysis to determine the strength of the four variables or dictionaries that comprise the computer program (DICTION) that performs the initial word count. These four dictionaries include activity, certainty, optimism, and realism.

Activity refers to motion, or ...