Function Word Adjacency Networks and Early Modern Plays

The New Oxford Shakespeare's case for Marlowe's coauthorship of the Henry VI plays rests on two different types of computational stylistics. Work undertaken with the newest method, based on an analysis of Word Adjacency Networks (WANs) by Segarra et al. was, according to Gary Taylor, the r...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inANQ (Lexington, Ky.) Vol. 33; no. 2-3; pp. 204 - 213
Main Author Barber, R.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Philadelphia Routledge 03.08.2020
Taylor & Francis Inc
Subjects
Authorship
Co authorship
Drama
Function words
Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)
Stylistics
Text analysis
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ISSN0895-769X
1940-3364
DOI10.1080/0895769X.2019.1655631

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Summary:The New Oxford Shakespeare's case for Marlowe's coauthorship of the Henry VI plays rests on two different types of computational stylistics. Work undertaken with the newest method, based on an analysis of Word Adjacency Networks (WANs) by Segarra et al. was, according to Gary Taylor, the research which "convinced" the editorial board of the attribution. "No matter how it does what it does," say the proponents of Word Adjacency Networks, "an authorship attribution method deserves scholarly attention if it can be objectively shown to be a good predictor of who wrote what for cases where we already know who wrote what." The decision to analyze function words rather than lexical words supposedly removes the risk that plays will appear similar due to similarities of subject matter rather than style. Lexical word tests are known to be influenced by genre, with historical plays, for example, tending to use similar words.
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ISSN:0895-769X
1940-3364
DOI:10.1080/0895769X.2019.1655631