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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, John L. Hilton, and John B. Archer |
Journal | Journal of Book of Mormon Studies |
Volume | 6 |
Issue | 1 |
Pagination | 47-63 |
Keywords | Authorship; Translation; Wordprint |
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. |
URL | https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jbms/vol6/iss1/5 |
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