Michelle Obama faces public scrutiny over her race and use of African American Language. Research has demonstrated that African American Language (AAL) shoulders much prejudice and that Michelle...Show moreMichelle Obama faces public scrutiny over her race and use of African American Language. Research has demonstrated that African American Language (AAL) shoulders much prejudice and that Michelle Obama, as a black woman, has faced negative stereotypes due to her complexion. This study aims to establish a direct connection between Michelle Obama’s use of African American Language and her public image, based on a sentiment analysis of tweets. Building on existing work, this study asks how Michelle Obama’s African American Language use affects her public image and whether public perception is based on her use of AAL. In this context, the archaic use of African American Vernacular English is substituted with the use of African American Language. Based on a corpus of gathered tweets, a sentiment analysis was performed to determine online engagement based on mood. An analysis of the results demonstrated that positive online engagement could be connected to a decreased use of African American Language by Michelle Obama. The results indicate that Americans think more highly of Michelle when she speaks less “black.”Show less
