Methodological observations concerning word rankings and z-score refinements

authored by

Hartmut Ilsemann

Abstract

This article evaluates word rankings suggested by Ary L. Goldberger, Albert C. Yang, and C. Peng as a means of establishing the authorship of texts in the light of Delta, developed by John Burrows at about the same time. The tests carried out with high ranking function words and results established with the more modern approaches of Rolling Delta, Rolling Classify, and the General Imposters method give clear evidence that word rankings only return crude and unreliable results that cannot keep up with nontraditional modern methods. Even though the stylistic difference between Marlowe and Shakespeare plays could be stated, word rankings failed to recognize Shakespearean stylistics in The Jew of Malta, Edward II, and Doctor Faustus. It was only through the use of z-scores that a wider vocabulary provided a larger degree of differentiation.

Organisation(s)

English Department

Type

Article

Journal

Digital Scholarship in the Humanities

Volume

39

Pages

185-190

No. of pages

6

ISSN

2055-7671

Publication date

04.2024

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Information Systems, Language and Linguistics, Linguistics and Language, Computer Science Applications

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1093/llc/fqad079 (Access: Closed)