An analysis of the correlation and significance of greeting terms in Indonesian presidential and vice presidential candidates corpus

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This study quantitatively analyzes the correlation and significance of lexical greeting terms in the 2024 Indonesian presidential and vice-presidential debate corpus, leveraging the KORTARA corpus linguistics application. This research marks a methodological shift from traditional qualitative approaches to digital tools, enabling efficient processing of large datasets and identifying statistical patterns in political discourse. The study aimed to identify frequently used terms, analyze their correlation with vote acquisition, and determine statistical significance, bridging a gap in literature regarding quantitative aspects of Indonesian political language. Using Pearson's product-moment correlation and t-tests, findings reveal diverse outcomes for terms like “Pak,” “Gus,” “Bapak,” “Prof,” “Mas,” “Profesor,” and “Anda”. While “Gus” and “Prof/Profesor” exhibited very strong positive correlations, and “Anda” showed a strong negative correlation, most terms did not demonstrate a statistically significant influence on vote acquisition. This suggests that while maintaining politeness and cultural adherence is crucial in political discourse, substantive issues, campaign narratives, and a holistic personal image are more dominant factors in influencing voter decisions than the mere frequency of specific greeting terms. The research offers valuable insights for political communication and rhetorical strategy development.