Trump is the most feminine-sounding male candidate, according to language software

 NEW YORK — Mrs Hillary Clinton, no surprise, sounds the most feminine of the candidates on the campaign trail, commonly using phrases like “incredibly grateful” and “open our hearts”. More surprising, the
second-most feminine speaker is Mr Donald Trump, who often talks about “my beautiful family” and “lasting relationships.”

But unlike Mrs Clinton, Mr Trump is just as likely to speak in overtly masculine language, especially favouring phrases like “absolutely destroy” and often using insulting words that tend to alienate women (and many men): “Moron,” “imbecile” and “loser.”

This is based on 126,362 words in publicly available speeches by the candidates through March 3 and in four debates analysed by Textio, a company that uses software to evaluate language. Textio ranked the candidates’ language in various areas, including gender associations, references to minorities and the frequency with which they talked about themselves versus talking directly to voters.
The company categorises phrases as feminine-biased or masculine-biased based on which get statistically significant response rates from either men or women. The way the candidates speak influences voters’ perception of them, and could reveal clues about their core beliefs and which voters they are trying to sway.
Mrs Clinton’s language is often about coming together, and she mentions family five times as often as any other candidate. Mr Trump’s language is the most polarised between masculine and feminine, though he has been sounding more feminine over the campaign, perhaps to try to appeal to female voters.
There can be a double standard for women, linguists say. “If men add these little feminine flourishes, they have it both ways — they get admired for being tough and yet people like them,” said Ms Deborah Tannen, a linguistics professor at Georgetown University and author of “You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation”.
“There’s no question we have two standards that we use in evaluating male and female speakers,” said Dr John Locke, a linguistics professor at City University of New York and author of “Duels and Duets: Why Men and Women Talk So Differently”. “If she speaks forcefully, people will say she’s strident or harsh. When a man does the same thing, we say that he’s speaking with appropriate command.”
Mr Ted Cruz is the most masculine and aggressive speaker of all, Textio found, and much more masculine than Clinton is feminine. He rarely uses feminine words, favouring “relentless,” “hunt down” and “totally destroy”.
Mr Bernie Sanders’ average language is more masculine than Mr Trump’s, but not as masculine as Mr Marco Rubio’s. Mr Sanders’ speech has been getting more masculine over time.
Companies use Textio’s software to analyse job listings for bias, to see which groups of applicants they might turn off or attract. Customers have also applied it to emails, syllabuses, performance reviews and other documents.
NEW YORK — Mrs Hillary Clinton, no surprise, sounds the most feminine of the candidates on the campaign trail, commonly using phrases like “incredibly grateful” and “open our hearts”. More surprising, the second-most feminine speaker is Mr Donald Trump, who often talks about “my beautiful family” and “lasting relationships.”
But unlike Mrs Clinton, Mr Trump is just as likely to speak in overtly masculine language, especially favouring phrases like “absolutely destroy” and often using insulting words that tend to alienate women (and many men): “Moron,” “imbecile” and “loser.”

This is based on 126,362 words in publicly available speeches by the candidates through March 3 and in four debates analysed by Textio, a company that uses software to evaluate language. Textio ranked the candidates’ language in various areas, including gender associations, references to minorities and the frequency with which they talked about themselves versus talking directly to voters.
The company categorises phrases as feminine-biased or masculine-biased based on which get statistically significant response rates from either men or women. The way the candidates speak influences voters’ perception of them, and could reveal clues about their core beliefs and which voters they are trying to sway.
Mrs Clinton’s language is often about coming together, and she mentions family five times as often as any other candidate. Mr Trump’s language is the most polarised between masculine and feminine, though he has been sounding more feminine over the campaign, perhaps to try to appeal to female voters.
There can be a double standard for women, linguists say. “If men add these little feminine flourishes, they have it both ways — they get admired for being tough and yet people like them,” said Ms Deborah Tannen, a linguistics professor at Georgetown University and author of “You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation”.
“There’s no question we have two standards that we use in evaluating male and female speakers,” said Dr John Locke, a linguistics professor at City University of New York and author of “Duels and Duets: Why Men and Women Talk So Differently”. “If she speaks forcefully, people will say she’s strident or harsh. When a man does the same thing, we say that he’s speaking with appropriate command.”
Mr Ted Cruz is the most masculine and aggressive speaker of all, Textio found, and much more masculine than Clinton is feminine. He rarely uses feminine words, favouring “relentless,” “hunt down” and “totally destroy”.
Mr Bernie Sanders’ average language is more masculine than Mr Trump’s, but not as masculine as Mr Marco Rubio’s. Mr Sanders’ speech has been getting more masculine over time.
Companies use Textio’s software to analyse job listings for bias, to see which groups of applicants they might turn off or attract. Customers have also applied it to emails, syllabuses, performance reviews and other documents.