A General Model of Author Style with Application to the UK House of Commons, 1935-2018

Leslie Huang, Patrick O. Perry, Arthur Spirling

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

We consider evidence for the assertion that backbench members of parliament (MPs) in the UK have become less distinctive from one another in terms of their speech. Noting that this claim has considerable normative and substantive implications, we review theory and findings in the area, which are ultimately ambiguous on this question. We then provide a new statistical model of distinctiveness that extends traditional efforts to statistically characterize the style of authors and apply it to a corpus of Hansard speeches from 1935 to 2018. In the aggregate, we find no evidence for the claim of more homogeneity. But this hides intriguing covariate effects: at the MP-level, panel regression results demonstrate that on average, more senior backbenchers tend to be less different in speech terms. We also show, however, that this pattern is changing: in recent times, it is more experienced MPs who speak most distinctively.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)412-434
Number of pages23
JournalPolitical Analysis
Volume28
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 1 2020
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Sociology and Political Science
  • Political Science and International Relations

Keywords

  • House of Commons
  • regression
  • stylometry
  • text as data

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'A General Model of Author Style with Application to the UK House of Commons, 1935-2018'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this