scholarly journals Pull out all the stops: Textual analysis via punctuation sequences

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra N. M. Darmon ◽  
Marya Bazzi ◽  
Sam D. Howison ◽  
Mason A. Porter
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Distinctive Feature ◽  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Word Choice ◽  
Literary Genres ◽  
Written Text ◽  
Stylistic Feature ◽  
Pull Out ◽  
Over Time

Whether enjoying the lucid prose of a favorite author or slogging through some other writer's cumbersome, heavy-set prattle (full of parentheses, em-dashes, compound adjectives, and Oxford commas), readers will notice stylistic signatures not only in word choice and grammar, but also in punctuation itself. Indeed, visual sequences of punctuation from different authors produce marvelously different (and visually striking) sequences. Punctuation is a largely overlooked stylistic feature in ``stylometry'', the quantitative analysis of written text. In this paper, we examine punctuation sequences in a corpus of literary documents and ask the following questions: Are the properties of such sequences a distinctive feature of different authors? Is it possible to distinguish literary genres based on their punctuation sequences? Do the punctuation styles of authors evolve over time? Are we on to something interesting in trying to do stylometry without words, or are we full of sound and fury (signifying nothing)?

scholarly journals Pull out all the stops: Textual analysis via punctuation sequences

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-37
Author(s):  
ALEXANDRA N. M. DARMON ◽  
MARYA BAZZI ◽  
SAM D. HOWISON ◽  
MASON A. PORTER
Keyword(s):  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Joint Probability ◽  
Word Choice ◽  
Literary Genres ◽  
Written Text ◽  
Pull Out ◽  
Categorical Time Series ◽  
Usage Patterns ◽  
The One ◽  
Over Time

Whether enjoying the lucid prose of a favourite author or slogging through some other writer’s cumbersome, heavy-set prattle (full of parentheses, em dashes, compound adjectives, and Oxford commas), readers will notice stylistic signatures not only in word choice and grammar but also in punctuation itself. Indeed, visual sequences of punctuation from different authors produce marvellously different (and visually striking) sequences. Punctuation is a largely overlooked stylistic feature in stylometry, the quantitative analysis of written text. In this paper, we examine punctuation sequences in a corpus of literary documents and ask the following questions: Are the properties of such sequences a distinctive feature of different authors? Is it possible to distinguish literary genres based on their punctuation sequences? Do the punctuation styles of authors evolve over time? Are we on to something interesting in trying to do stylometry without words, or are we full of sound and fury (signifying nothing)? In our investigation, we examine a large corpus of documents from Project Gutenberg (a digital library with many possible editorial influences). We extract punctuation sequences from each document in our corpus and record the number of words that separate punctuation marks. Using such information about punctuation-usage patterns, we attempt both author and genre recognition, and we also examine the evolution of punctuation usage over time. Our efforts at author recognition are particularly successful. Among the features that we consider, the one that seems to carry the most explanatory power is an empirical approximation of the joint probability of the successive occurrence of two punctuation marks. In our conclusions, we suggest several directions for future work, including the application of similar analyses for investigating translations and other types of categorical time series.

Nubian Texts, Nubian Lives

2021 ◽  
pp. 771-786
Author(s):  
Giovanni R. Ruffini
Keyword(s):  
Economic History ◽  
World History ◽  
Valuable Insight ◽  
Documentary Evidence ◽  
Literary Genres ◽  
State Centralization ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Flow Over Time ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Ebb And Flow

Nubian texts provide valuable insight into Nubian social and economic history. Accounts reveal economic priorities both secular and sacred. Documentary evidence hints at the nature of state centralization and the movement of goods and coins in and out of Nubia. Magic reveals Nubia’s deep-seated hopes and fears. Literature shows innovative theology and Nubia’s sense of its place in world history. Funerary inscriptions record the careers of the elite and their sense of their own place in the cosmos. But much is missing from the Nubian textual record as well, suggesting that major literary genres never indigenized in Nubia the way they did in Egypt or Ethiopia. Other genres ebb and flow over time, hinting at the economy of Nubian literacy and the processes through which it ultimately dies.

On the State of Genre/Form Vocabulary: A Quantitative Analysis of LCGFT Data in WorldCat

2021 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 52
Author(s):  
Colin Bitter ◽  
Yuji Tosaka
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
The State ◽  
Bibliographic Databases ◽  
Moderate Increase ◽  
Large Set ◽  
Library Of Congress ◽  
Bibliographic Data ◽  
Innovative Solutions ◽  
Over Time

The purpose of this paper is to report on a quantitative analysis of the LCGFT vocabulary within a large set of MARC bibliographic data retrieved from the OCLC WorldCat database. The study aimed to provide a detailed analysis of the outcomes of the LCGFT project, which was launched by the Library of Congress (LC) in 2007. Findings point to a moderate increase in LCGFT use over time; however, the vocabulary has not been applied to the fullest extent possible in WorldCat. Further, adoption has been inconsistent between the various LCGFT disciplines. These and other findings discussed here suggest that retrospective application of the vocabulary using automated means should be investigated by catalogers and other technical services librarians. Indeed, as the data used for the analysis show somewhat uneven application of LCGFT, and with nearly half a billion records in WorldCat, it remains a certainty that much of LCGFT’s full potentials for genre/form access and retrieval will remain untapped until innovative solutions are introduced to further increase overall vocabulary usage in bibliographic databases.

The Development of Xunzi’s Theory of Xing, Reconstructed on the Basis of a Textual Analysis of Xunzi 23, “Xing E” 性惡 (Xing is Bad)

Early China ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 99-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Robins
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Detailed Examination ◽  
The Core ◽  
Over Time

The section of the Xunzi called “Xing e” 性惡 (xing is bad) prominently and repeatedly claims that people's xing is bad. However, no other text in the Xunzi makes this claim, and it is widely thought that the claim does not express Xunzi's fundamental ideas about human nature. This article addresses the issue in a somewhat indirect way, beginning with a detailed examination of the text of “Xing e”: identifying a core text, removing a series of interpolations, analyzing the structure of the core text, and distinguishing between three positions that are defended there. This analysis shows that the claim that people's xing is bad is not really central to “Xing e.” More ambitiously, it supports the conclusion that Xunzi's ideas about people's xing changed over time. Though Xunzi did claim that people's xing is bad, he later abandoned the claim, and replaced it with an account of wei 偽 “artifice.”

scholarly journals The necessitive impersonal REIK(Ė)TI ‘need’: the rise of modal meaning

2017 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Erika Jasionytė-Mikučionienė ◽  
Jolanta Šinkūnienė
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Frequency Distribution ◽  
Distribution Patterns ◽  
Biomedical Sciences ◽  
Common Features ◽  
Patterns Of Use ◽  
Usage Patterns ◽  
Over Time

The focus of the paper is on the frequency, distribution patterns and semantic profile of the necessitive impersonal reik(ė)ti ‘need’ in old and contemporary Lithuanian texts. The study employs corpus based quantitative and qualitative analysis to investigate the patterns of use of reik(ė)ti ‘need’ in the Database of Old Writings (16th-17th centuries) as well as the fiction sub-corpus of the Corpus of the Contemporary Lithuanian Language and the humanities and biomedical sciences sub-corpora of the Corpus of Academic Lithuanian (CorALit). The study follows van der Auwera and Plungian’s (1998) modality framework. The quantitative analysis shows that the present tense form reikia ‘need.PRS.3’ is the dominating one across all the sub-corpora analysed. The results of the qualitative study indicate that the deontic sub-type of participant external modality is prevailing in the old Lithuanian texts as well as in the fiction sub-corpus and in the biomedical sciences texts of the contemporary Lithuanian. The discourse of the humanities displays a fairly frequent employment of reik(ė)ti ‘need’ for discourse organising functions alongside the deontic uses. Although the usage patterns of reik(ė)ti ‘need’ in the biomedical sciences and the humanities share certain common features, they also point to discipline specific trends of argumentation. It is also important to observe that the objective deontic reik(ė)ti ‘need’ seems to gradually acquire the features of subjective deontic modality over time, which corresponds to the typical subjectification cline (cf. Traugott 1989).

“Whoever Imitates a People Becomes One of Them”: A Hadith and its Interpreters

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 359-426
Author(s):  
Youshaa Patel
Keyword(s):  
Pivotal Role ◽  
Literary Genres ◽  
Ibn Taymiyya ◽  
Over Time

AbstractThis article examines the canonization of the Prophetic hadith, “Whoever imitates a people becomes one of them,” which became the keynote expression of tashabbuh (reprehensible imitation), a Sunni doctrine commonly invoked by religious authorities to distinguish Muslims from non-Muslims. First, I analyze how the Partisans of Hadith transmitted and classified the hadith, highlighting the pivotal role of Abū Dāwūd (d. 275/889) in canonizing the tradition. I then trace the divergent trajectories of its interpretation over time, especially the glosses of two brilliant Damascenes: Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728/1328) and Najm al-Dīn al-Ghazzī (d. 1061/1651). This study draws not only from hadith commentaries but also from treatises on law, ethics, and Sufism, illustrating how hadith interpretation takes place in multiple Islamic literary genres. A detailed appendix catalogues the collections of hadith that transmit the tradition; compares different narrations in order to date and locate its circulation; and visually maps its isnād networks.

Residue: The privilege of spatiality in the puzzle film

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-41
Author(s):  
Zachary Vickers
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Cognitive Process ◽  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Mise En Scene ◽  
Close Textual Analysis ◽  
Production History ◽  
Christopher Nolan ◽  
Narrative Techniques ◽  
Production Crew ◽  
Over Time

Typical discourses around the puzzle film ‐ a genre that typically eschews classic storytelling for more complex narrative techniques, such as entangled secondary/tertiary plotlines, and characters with mental or psychological instability ‐ often privilege the manipulation of the film’s temporality and narratology. However, in this article, I perform a close textual analysis of the mise en scène of Inception by Christopher Nolan (2010) and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) by Michel Gondry to demonstrate how these puzzle films privilege spatiality over time and plot to depict cognitive processes associated with mental and psychological instability, thereby bringing attention to an underrepresented attribute of the genre. I focus on the influence of surrealism on mise en scène, as surrealist art and cinema manipulate space to explore the psyche. I also draw on these films’ production history to show how the filmmakers, production crew and actors understood approaches to space as a cognitive process.

The Scholar's Ludo-Narrative Game and Multimodal Graphic Novel

2016 ◽  
pp. 182-207
Author(s):  
Daniel J. Dunne
Keyword(s):  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Graphic Novels ◽  
Graphic Novel ◽  
Collaborative Effort ◽  
Written Text ◽  
Multimodal Analysis ◽  
Alternative Approaches

Current discussions within videogames focus on the ways in which gameplay or narrative can be analysed by themselves, and rarely as a collaborative effort to explore a text. Although there have been a number of alternative approaches to this debate, none have succeeded in becoming prevalent within the field. This contrasts greatly with the study of graphic novels in relation to the application of multimodal analysis. In this field, discussion about the interplay between the mode of the image and the mode of the written text are more frequent. This textual analysis takes into account the two modes to focus on their collaborative effects in how the graphic novel can be understood. This chapter suggests that current videogame scholarship can benefit from pre-existing multimodal discussion that exists within graphic novels.

Part I Foundations, Ch.5 Evolution

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenny Susan
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Process ◽  
Original Form ◽  
Constitutional Change ◽  
Written Text ◽  
Constitutional Evolution ◽  
Constitutional System ◽  
Changes Over Time ◽  
Over Time

This chapter is about Australian constitutional evolution. It concerns the meaning, the processes, and the possibilities of constitutional change in Australia. ‘Constitutional evolution’ here means the transformation of the Australian constitutional system from its original form in 1901 into different forms until it reached the form we know today, by an aggregation of changes over time. These changes have mostly occurred in the constitutional space for which the written Constitution originally provided, with the result that, from 1901 until now, the Constitution has provided the framework for the Australian federation. The Constitution, as enacted by the British Parliament and as formally amended by popular referenda, has been critical to this evolutionary process; but the changes in the constitutional system, though consistent with the written text, have not been required by it.

scholarly journals Quantitative analysis of cryptocurrencies transaction graph

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amir Pasha Motamed ◽  
Behnam Bahrak
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
Statistical Analysis ◽  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Power Law ◽  
Degree Sequence ◽  
Power Law Distribution ◽  
Comprehensive Comparison ◽  
Statistical Studies ◽  
Financial Transactions ◽  
Over Time

AbstractCryptocurrencies as a new way of transferring assets and securing financial transactions have gained popularity in recent years. Transactions in cryptocurrencies are publicly available, hence, statistical studies on different aspects of these currencies are possible. However, previous statistical analysis on cryptocurrencies transactions have been very limited and mostly devoted to Bitcoin, with no comprehensive comparison between these currencies. In this study, we intend to compare the transaction graph of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Dash, and Z-Cash, with respect to the dynamics of their transaction graphs over time, and discuss their properties. In particular, we observed that the growth rate of the nodes and edges of the transaction graphs, and the density of these graphs, are closely related to the price of these currencies. We also found that the transaction graph of these currencies is non-assortative, i.e. addresses do not tend for transact with a particular type of addresses of higher or lower degree, and the degree sequence of their transaction graph follows the power law distribution.

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