Linguist Frames Presidential Debate at Campus Event

GOLDEN GATE XPRESS -- UC Berkeley linguistics Professor George Lakoff said this repetition creates fear and gains Trump more support when he says he can stop it if elected. Trump’s constant outbursts and repetition of “crooked Hillary” in every speech and at each debate is done intentionally to frame Clinton as the obvious wrong choice, while creating free promotion for his campaign. “If one side can get the language of its worldview into public discourse and have it repeated more, they have a better chance to increase support,” Lakoff says. Jenny Lederer, SF State linguistics Professor and former Lakoff student, arranged the event and said she uses his work for reference in her own classes. “Linguistics is looking at patterns of grammar and language. Studying the sounds of world languages and studying syntax, the order of words and languages and studying syntax, the order of words and language.”