Writes Professor Jack D. Douglas:

This Italian-American Bostonian makes some good points about Trump’s very complex and situational sociolinguistic patterns that lead audiences to like him very much or dislike him very much, depending on their own socio-cultural and personal backgrounds.

She’s quite right that he uses strong everyday American language that is very spontaneous, situational, personal and strong, sometimes even sharp and pointed. He gives most of his listeners the feeling he is talking directly to them. Some people don’t like this, most do.

She does not seem to realize how vast his experience has been in talking to crowds this way before doing politics, even at wrestling matches in Trump Atlantic City, and on tv and in deal making with groups.

He’s the opposite of the Lecture Ideolects that put people to sleep. His speech reaches out  and touches people, often strongly, but in very complex ways, from humor and joshing to serious points jabbed at them to head knocking comments.

She does seem to realize this is especially common with working people, very different from written language eggheads.

She does not mention how common it is in New York Dialects in Public Settings. Different ethnic and education groups use different dialects but this common way of talking in New York. It’s also very contagious–it catches me up in it.

You could take his talks with people, not speechifying, and analyze them to see how he shifts fast from one mode to another and then another. He also moves his body and arms a lot to contextualize and emphasize what he says–New  York Body Talk. It really grabs you.

Quite interesting.

BTW, I did not pay much attention to Trump or any of the other original 18 Repub debaters until I started watching his hour  long press conference after a big sweep in some primaries. I could hardly believe how fast and detailed and grabbing his hour long talk with no teleprompter was for his audience and me.