Empirical evaluation: Towards an automated index of lexical variety
-
Vander Viana
Abstract
This chapter proposes an objective approach to the formal analysis of literary prose in English in order to investigate the relation between lexical density and judgments of canonicity. Based on the concepts of literariness proposed by the Russian Formalists and lexical variety, a mathematical index is designed, relating three variables which take the materiality of text into consideration: (a) relative frequency of lexical bundles, (b) lexical bundle type/token ratio, and (c) word type/token ratio. The index is described and illustrated with 46 canonical and non-canonical literary works. Statistical analysis shows no significant relation between lexical richness and decisions of what has been classified as canonical, indicating that these judgments may be influenced by factors other than the text itself.
Abstract
This chapter proposes an objective approach to the formal analysis of literary prose in English in order to investigate the relation between lexical density and judgments of canonicity. Based on the concepts of literariness proposed by the Russian Formalists and lexical variety, a mathematical index is designed, relating three variables which take the materiality of text into consideration: (a) relative frequency of lexical bundles, (b) lexical bundle type/token ratio, and (c) word type/token ratio. The index is described and illustrated with 46 canonical and non-canonical literary works. Statistical analysis shows no significant relation between lexical richness and decisions of what has been classified as canonical, indicating that these judgments may be influenced by factors other than the text itself.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction ix
-
Part I. Theoretical and philosophical perspectives
- Studying literature and being empirical: A multifaceted conjunction 7
- Empirical research into the processing of free indirect discourse and the imperative of ecological validity 21
- Notes toward a new philology 35
- A theory of expressive reading 49
-
Part II. Psychology, foregrounding and literature
- Textual and extra-textual manipulations in the empirical study of literary response 75
- Foregrounding and feeling in response to narrative 89
- Two levels of foregrounding in literary narratives 103
- Narrative empathy and inter-group relations 113
- Effects of reading on knowledge, social abilities, and selfhood: Theory and empirical studies 127
- Imagining what could happen: Effects of taking the role of a character on social cognition 139
-
Part III. Computers and the humanities
- An automated text analysis: Willie Van Peer's academic contributions 161
- Computationally Discriminating Literary from Non-Literary Texts 175
- Metaphors and software-assisted cognitive stylistics 193
- Searching for style in modern American poetry 211
- The laws governing the history of poetry 229
- Consolidating empirical method in data-assisted stylistics: Towards a corpus-attested glossary of literary terms. 243
-
Part IV. REDES Project: The new generation
- Empirical evaluation: Towards an automated index of lexical variety 271
- Language allergy: Myth or reality 283
- Proper names in the translation of The Lord of the Rings 297
- Threat and geographical distance: the case of North Korea 309
- The Apology of Popular Fiction: Everyday Uses of Literature in Poland 317
- Afterword. A Matter of versifying: Tradition, innovation and the sonnet form in English 329
- About the contributors 343
- Index of authors 351
- Index of keywords 355
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction ix
-
Part I. Theoretical and philosophical perspectives
- Studying literature and being empirical: A multifaceted conjunction 7
- Empirical research into the processing of free indirect discourse and the imperative of ecological validity 21
- Notes toward a new philology 35
- A theory of expressive reading 49
-
Part II. Psychology, foregrounding and literature
- Textual and extra-textual manipulations in the empirical study of literary response 75
- Foregrounding and feeling in response to narrative 89
- Two levels of foregrounding in literary narratives 103
- Narrative empathy and inter-group relations 113
- Effects of reading on knowledge, social abilities, and selfhood: Theory and empirical studies 127
- Imagining what could happen: Effects of taking the role of a character on social cognition 139
-
Part III. Computers and the humanities
- An automated text analysis: Willie Van Peer's academic contributions 161
- Computationally Discriminating Literary from Non-Literary Texts 175
- Metaphors and software-assisted cognitive stylistics 193
- Searching for style in modern American poetry 211
- The laws governing the history of poetry 229
- Consolidating empirical method in data-assisted stylistics: Towards a corpus-attested glossary of literary terms. 243
-
Part IV. REDES Project: The new generation
- Empirical evaluation: Towards an automated index of lexical variety 271
- Language allergy: Myth or reality 283
- Proper names in the translation of The Lord of the Rings 297
- Threat and geographical distance: the case of North Korea 309
- The Apology of Popular Fiction: Everyday Uses of Literature in Poland 317
- Afterword. A Matter of versifying: Tradition, innovation and the sonnet form in English 329
- About the contributors 343
- Index of authors 351
- Index of keywords 355
