Comparative Power of Three Author-Attribution Techniques for Differentiating Authors

Title

Comparative Power of Three Author-Attribution Techniques for Differentiating Authors

Publication Type

Journal Article

Year of Publication

1997

Authors

Schaalje, G. Bruce (Primary), Hilton, John L. (Primary), and Archer, John B. (Primary)

Journal

Journal of Book of Mormon Studies

Pagination

47-63

Volume

6

Issue

1

Terms of use

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Bibliographic Citation

Abstract

Over the last twenty years, various objective author-attribution techniques have been applied to the English Book of Mormon in order to shed light on the question of multiple authorship of Book of Mormon texts. Two methods, one based on rates of use of noncontextual words and one based on word-pattern ratios, measure patterns consistent with multiple authorship in the Book of Mormon. Another method, based on vocabulary-richness measures, suggests that only one author is involved. These apparently contradictory results are reconciled by showing that for texts of known authorship, the method based on vocabulary-richness measures is not as powerful in discerning differences among authors as are the other methods, especially for works translated into English by a single translator.

Translation
Authorship
Wordprints

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