Quantitative Analysis of Open Diplomacy Speeches

Abstract

This paper analyses the linguistic and statistical characteristics of open diplomacy texts within the framework of the diplomatic discourse, namely, speeches of permanent representatives to the UN Security Council. The authors examine the possibility of using computer quantitative content analysis and automated semantic text analysis in order to track changes in this type of institutional discourse by quantitative and qualitative means. As all the session reports of the UN Security Council since its creation have been digitized and are in the public domain, it is possible to process them with quantitative linguistics methods using computer programs, with subsequent analysis from the positions of linguistic pragmatics, communication studies, content analysis, and linguistic theory of emotions. These tools can be used to assess the changes in a diplomat’s speech behaviour over time (in this case, the 10- year period of O.A. Troyanovsky’s work as the Soviet Permanent Representative to the UN Security Council), depending on the communicative situation and on the acuteness of the issue being discussed. It is noted that, with the topic staying the same – the situation in the Middle East – the quantitative characteristics of the speeches with a certain time interval between them remain unchanged, while their emotional component undergoes changes. The results of the research indicate the need for further study of this type of texts by means of computer sentiment analysis, e.g. using the Indico system. Quantitative analysis of such specific language material as speeches of permanent representatives to the UN Security Council, which are a set of discursive practices aimed at resolving complex international issues and conflicts by means of open diplomacy, allows us to develop an objective profession-specific communicative model that can be implemented in today’s multimedia environment.