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Size-dependent word frequencies and translational invariance of books

Sebastian Bernhardsson, Luis Rocha and Petter Minnhagen

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2010, vol. 389, issue 2, 330-341

Abstract: It is shown that a real novel shares many characteristic features with a null model in which the words are randomly distributed throughout the text. Such a common feature is a certain translational invariance of the text. Another is that the functional form of the word-frequency distribution of a novel depends on the length of the text in the same way as the null model. This means that an approximate power-law tail ascribed to the data will have an exponent which changes with the size of the text-section which is analyzed. A further consequence is that a novel cannot be described by text-evolution models such as the Simon model. The size-transformation of a novel is found to be well described by a specific Random Book Transformation. This size transformation in addition enables a more precise determination of the functional form of the word-frequency distribution. The implications of the results are discussed.

Keywords: Word frequency distributions; Random book transformation; Text evolution models (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:389:y:2010:i:2:p:330-341

DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2009.09.022

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Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications is currently edited by K. A. Dawson, J. O. Indekeu, H.E. Stanley and C. Tsallis

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