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Horton1987.Pdf (4.307Mb) This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: • This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. • A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. • This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. • The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. • When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. The Effectiveness of the Stylometry of Function Words in Discriminating between Shakespeare and Fletcher Thomas Bolton Horton Ph D University of Edinburgh 1987 rj Abstract A number of recent successful authorship studies have relied on a statistical analysis of language features based on function words. However, stylometry has not been extensively applied to Elizabethan and Jacobean dramatic questions. To determine the effectiveness of such an approach in this field, language features are studied in twenty-four plays by Shakespeare and eight by Fletcher. The goal is to develop procedures that might be used to determine the authorship of individual scenes in The Two Noble Kinsmen and Henry VIII. Homonyms, spelling variants and contracted forms in old-spelling dramatic texts present problems for a computer analysis. A program that uses a system of pre-edit codes and replacement /expansion lists was developed to prepare versions of the texts in which all forms of common words can be recognized automatically. To evaluate some procedures for determining authorship developed by A. Q. Morton and his colleagues, occurrences of 30 common collocations and 5 propor- tional pairs are analyzed in the texts. Within-author variation for these features is greater than had been found in previous studies. Univariate chi-square tests are shown to be of limited usefulness because of the statistical distribution of these textual features and correlation between pairs of features. The best of the collocations do not discriminate as well as most of the individual words from which they are composed. Turning to the rate of occurrence of individual words and groups of words, dis- tinctiveness ratios and t-tests are used to select variables that best discriminate between Shakespeare and Fletcher. Variation due to date of composition and genre within the Shakespeare texts is examined. A multivariate and distribution- free discriminant analysis procedure (using kernel estimation) is introduced. The classifiers based on the best marker words and the kernel method are not greatly affected by characterization and perform well for samples as short as 500 words. When the final procedure is used to assign the 459 scenes of known authorship (containing at least 500 112 95% are assigned tocorrect author. Only two scenes are incorrectly classified, and 4.8% of the scenes cannot be assigned to either author by the procedure. When applied to individual scenes of at least 500 words in The Two Noble Kinsmen and Henry VIII, the procedure indicates that both plays are collabo- rations and generally supports the usual division. However, the marker words in a number of scenes often attributed to Fletcher are very much closer to Shake- speare's pattern of use. These scenes include TNK IV.iii and H8 I.iii, IV.i-ii and V.iv. To the memory of my mother, who always believed in the members of her family, even when we ourselves doubted. Preface A few initial words about this document may clarify some issues for the reader. First, although I have been engaged in a course of study at a British university, I have followed my native American spelling and punctuation conventions in writ- ing this dissertation. This decision was taken solely for reasons of consistency. My supervisor and I recognized that it would be easier for me to be consistently American than British (although this has not proved as easy I imagined). Second, this dissertation was prepared using the J1TFX and TEX document preparation software systems, and was printed on a Canon desktop laserprinter (driven by software developed in the Computer Science department). All tables and graphs in the document were created using IILTEX, with the exception of Figure 6-2 and the curved line in Figure 6-1. For the most part J1TEX has proved very satisfactory. However, I discovered rather late that the associated BIBTEX program, which takes care of the citations in the text and the bibliography, was not as sophisticated as I had hoped. Citations in the text are composed of bracketed numbers, which correspond to works listed in the numbered bibliography at the end of the volume. Optionally, the citation is followed by a page number (or numbers). For example, I might use this method to refer to the section in Mary-Claire van Leunen's A Handbook for Scholars that discusses why I should not hesitate to use first-person pronouns for the sake of clarity [164, pp. 37-41]. (This book contains some excellent advice for improving scholarly writing, which I have attempted to take to heart.) The bibliography is arranged alphabetically by author, with the reference numbers printed before each entry. For editions of plays, an unnumbered cross-reference to the text is listed under the editor's surname. iv Acknowledgements I've always admired short and witty acknowledgments, but looking back over almost five years of research, I find that I am indebted to far too many people to be brief. At the risk of this becoming "Chapter 9" I'll begin.... My interest in this topic dates from my undergraduate days at the University of Tennessee, where Dr. Norman Sanders and Dr. Chuck Pfleeger encouraged me in my interdisciplinary interests. Many thanks to them and everyone else associated with the College Scholars program for helping to plant the seeds. Without the funding of the Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission, I would have never come to Britain to study. In particular, Geraldine Cully has given me support and friendship that I value greatly. Without machine-readable texts of Shakespeare and Fletcher, this disserta- tion would have been somewhat more brief. Many thanks to the Oxford Univer- sity Shakespeare Department for allowing me to access their Shakespeare texts; in addition, Gary Taylor provided me with very useful advice on textual matters in the very early stages. I am also indebted to the Text Archive at the Oxford University Computing Service, especially Lou Burnard, for supplying me with copies of these and other texts. In addition, Prof. David Gunby of the Univer- sity of Canterbury (New Zealand) has generously provided copies of a number of machine-readable dramatic texts that were created as part of the preparation for the Cambridge edition of Webster's works. The academic environment in which I have pursued my studies has been excellent, primarily because of a number of people in the Computer Science department and the Edinburgh Regional Computing Centre. Many thanks to George Cleland for facilitating access to departmental machines and software, and to Neil Hamilton-Smith for a great deal of assistance with the CONCORD con- cordance program. The Computer Science department's generosi+7 in funding travel expenses for a number of conferences will not be forgotten. Not only has Chris Robinson been a tremendous friend, her assistance with all matters concerning English Language has been invaluable. Her careful reading of v Acknowledgements vi most of the draft of this dissertation has rescued me from a number of mistakes. Others who have made useful comments on sections of the draft are Andrew Morton and Tom Merriam (who also supplied me with copies of a number of articles which I could not access). Through the years Nik Traub has been an excellent friend and a valuable source of advice on computing. Without his advice and encouragement regard- ing Unix, I would have probably never developed the skills that allowed me to successfully complete this study. He also demonstrated that PhD students can actually finish, and I'll treasure his guacamole recipe forever. A number of other friends have significantly contributed to my well-being. In the early days, Stacy Waters and Susan Aronstein provided academic stimula- tion and welcome distraction (liquid and culinary, respectively). Since then there have been a number of others who have worked hard to keep me sane, includ- ing Graeme Steele, Eva Ashford (meow), Eric Wilson (woof), Mark Davoren, Laurent Langlois and Lise Desjardins. Eric deserves special notice for showing me glimpses of Scotland that I'd probably have missed, including a number of memorable pubs from Lancaster to Leith. Dr. Colin Aitken of the Statistics Department has been outstandingly patient and helpful in advising me about discriminant analysis. (Not to mention the fact that he let me use his program.) My supervisor, Prof. Sidney Michaelson, has made me feel welcome and at ease since the day I arrived at the university. His remarkable breadth of knowl- edge has been a great encouragement to me, and I appreciate the hours that he has spent in developing software for me and reading my work. Andrew and Jean Morton have been exceptionally kind and generous, and some of my best memories of Scotland will be of times spent at the Abbey Manse. I'll try to remember Andrew's curiosity and energy whenever I need inspiration in my work. Many thanks to my family, who have always communicated their pride and support.
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