Indexing Power Through Self‐Reference: Electoral Margins and the Use of <i>Běnxí</i> Among Taiwanese Parliamentarians

ABSTRACT This study examines how Taiwanese members of parliament (MPs) deploy self‐referring expressions—specifically, the formal first‐person singular běnxí —to negotiate their institutional standing and project political power. By operationalizing access to objective power using the margin of victory (MoV) as one possible proxy, the research shows that the absence of clear, objectively validated power may drive exploitation of linguistic variation as symbolic work. Analyzing parliamentary transcripts from 2020 to 2021, the findings reveal that MPs with narrower electoral margins—indicative of heightened electoral insecurity—use běnxí more frequently, engaging in greater symbolic work to assert their political legitimacy. Additionally, political party affiliation interacts with MoV in influencing the use of běnxí , but does not emerge as a main effect on its own. These results underscore the role of power negotiation in shaping linguistic behavior.