The changing complexity of congressional speech

Congress now speaks at almost a full grade level lower than it did
just seven years ago, with the most conservative members of Congress
speaking on average at the lowest grade level, according to a new
Sunlight Foundation analysis of the Congressional Record using Capitol Words.
Of course, what some might interpret as a dumbing down of Congress,
others will see as more effective communications. And lawmakers of both
parties still speak above the heads of the average American, who reads at between an 8^th and 9^th grade level.
Today's Congress speaks at about a 10.6 grade level, down from 11.5
in 2005. By comparison, the U.S. Constitution is written at a 17.8 grade
level, the Federalist Papers at a 17.1 grade level, and the Declaration
of Independence at a 15.1 grade level. The Gettysburg Address comes in
at an 11.2 grade level and Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech
is at a 9.4 grade level. Most major newspapers are written at between an
11^th and 14^th grade level. (You can find more comparisons here)
All these analyses use the Flesch-Kincaid test, which produces the
'reads at a n-th grade level' terminology that is likely familiar to
many readers. At its core, Flesch-Kincaid equates higher grade levels
with longer words and longer sentences. It is important to understand
the limitations of this metric: it tells us nothing about the clarity or
correctness of a passage of text. But although an admittedly crude
tool, Flesch-Kincaid can nonetheless provide insights into how different
legislators speak, and how Congressional speech has been changing.

Read the whole story: http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2012/05/21/congressional-speech/