Speaking Styles, Specialization and Seniority: An Analysis of Parliamentary Speeches in the Austrian Nationalrat

Parliamentary speech-making aims at effective communication. Speaking ahead of final voting in plenary session MPs in parliamentary systems craft speeches primarily to defend their party’s decision to vote in favour or against an issue to the public and other parties. Occasionally the goal of a speech will be a defence of a personal vote and in rare instances to persuade wavering colleagues from their own or other parties. To achieve effective communication, a speech should be clear and comprehensible. However, MPs have different styles of speaking due to rhetorical talent, education, habits, training and actual practice. Recent studies have focused on aspects of parliamentary speech-making such as issue choice or sentiment. We do not know much yet about speaking styles. This paper studies parliamentary speeches in the Austrian Nationalrat (1996-2021). We calculate the lexical diversity and readability of speeches and use type of debate and MPs’ characteristics (education, seniority, specialization, frequency of speaking) to identify factors that influence the way they speak, thereby increasing our understanding of legislative debates. 3 - 8 keywords (from ECPR list):