A comparative frequency analysis of the exile speeches of Klement Gottwald and Edvard Benes, 1939-1945

The aim of this study is to compare the speeches of two important Czechoslovak politicians - Edvard Benes and Klement Gottwald. Thematic words (TW) and keywords (KW) of their speeches broadcasted on radio during World War II (1939-1945) are analysed. Although these methods are related, each of them provides different perspectives on the issue. Thematic words are based on the frequency distribution of the analysed text itself, whereas keywords are generated through the comparison of two corpora (namely Benes versus Gottwald). Since Czech is a highly inflective language, all texts are lemmatized. Benes led the Czechoslovak government-in-exile in London from 1939 to 1945. Gottwald, as the leader of the Communist Party, emigrated to Moscow in 1938. The results show that their differing political orientations, enhanced by their time in exile, influenced the language of their speeches. Benes emphasized democratic principles, while Gottwald promoted communist revolutionary ideas. Gottwald's speeches were also considerably more offensive and direct. The results also show that both politicians emphasized the importance of the Soviet Union in World War II, whereas only Benes mentioned the United Kingdom.