“Non una donna in politica, ma una donna politica”: Women’s Political Language in an Italian Context

This chapter focuses on the metaphorical content of Italian women politicians’ speech to investigate if particularly ‘feminine’ language traits (see Jesperson 1922: 237–54) can be identified, or whether, as the driving hypothesis of this study posits, it is ministerial remit that conditions the use of a politician’s language more than any other single factor. This hypothesis is tested by examining a corpus of speeches, press interviews and press releases of five women ministers in the Prodi-led administration in Italy, covering the period June 2006 to May 2007.