IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/phsmap/v389y2010i2p330-341.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Size-dependent word frequencies and translational invariance of books

Author

Listed:
  • Bernhardsson, Sebastian
  • da Rocha, Luis Enrique Correa
  • Minnhagen, Petter

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Bernhardsson, Sebastian & da Rocha, Luis Enrique Correa & Minnhagen, Petter, 2010. "Size-dependent word frequencies and translational invariance of books," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 389(2), pages 330-341.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:389:y:2010:i:2:p:330-341
    DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2009.09.022
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378437109007584
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only. Journal offers the option of making the article available online on Science direct for a fee of $3,000
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.physa.2009.09.022?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gonçalves, L.L. & Gonçalves, L.B., 2006. "Fractal power law in literary English," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 360(2), pages 557-575.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yan, Xiaoyong & Minnhagen, Petter, 2016. "Randomness versus specifics for word-frequency distributions," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 444(C), pages 828-837.
    2. Yan, Xiaoyong & Minnhagen, Petter, 2018. "The dependence of frequency distributions on multiple meanings of words, codes and signs," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 490(C), pages 554-564.
    3. Çavuşoğlu, Abdullah & Türker, İlker, 2014. "Patterns of collaboration in four scientific disciplines of the Turkish collaboration network," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 413(C), pages 220-229.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.

      Corrections

      All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:389:y:2010:i:2:p:330-341. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

      If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

      If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

      If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

      For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/physica-a-statistical-mechpplications/ .

      Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

      IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.