Language use by two newly elected French presidents: Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to compare Jacques Chirac’s ten most frequently used words - nouns and adjectives - during the months that followed his inauguration as French president in 1995 with Nicolas Sarkozy’s use of the same words in the corresponding period in 2007. The material is taken from the official presidential web-site in Paris and has been categorized by two French linguistic computer programs. After an overall comparison of the two presidents’ use of French word classes, resemblances and differences are studied at the word level by comparing their immediate linguistic contexts.