wordprint studies
Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 12:27 am
We've all heard about the wordprint studies on the Book of Mormon. I myself think it might be fun if we could get some of the geeks on this board to work on something like that together. However, I would like to study from some potentially different angles:
What difference in wordprint is detected in the earlier and later editions of the Book of Mormon? How about the D&C / Book of Commandments?
What differences are found in foreign language editions?
Would taking a Fourrier transform of the data shed any light on wordprints (as is done with voice-prints)? How about estimating a probability density function by dividing the texts into smaller pieces and then comparing windows with the estimated PDFs (what if they aren't normal curves and what if that was an assumption in prior sutdies).
Another question I have is to whether contextual words would be useful. While I grant that non-contextual words may be best when an author is trying to immitate the style of someone, I would think that an author who is trying to have all characters come across as approximately equally intelligent and of similar upbringing would have them all share a closer vocabulary and phraseology. I should like to compare phraseology differences in the Old Testament with those of the Book of Mormon. Granted this may not demonstrate anything as the Book of Mormon authors may have had to learn from how the previous ones wrote and therefore been more homogenous than the Old Testament or New Testament.
Finally, one thing about the translation process I can't quite reconcile with wordprints is the undeniable inconsistancy in Jacobean English / present-day English. Sometimes verbs are conjugated with -eth, -est, etc., and sometimes they are not. Eg. you can find both "he has" and "he hath" in the Book of Mormon (and the D&C). If that isn't a sure sign of the translater's hand, I don't know what is. Of course I can also see how that might still allow for the translatee's wordprint to come through. It just makes me question how much the translator influenced the translation.
Ultimately perhaps these questions are worthless because neither a positive nor negative answer would seem to have much of an impact about whether the Book of Mormon is true.
What difference in wordprint is detected in the earlier and later editions of the Book of Mormon? How about the D&C / Book of Commandments?
What differences are found in foreign language editions?
Would taking a Fourrier transform of the data shed any light on wordprints (as is done with voice-prints)? How about estimating a probability density function by dividing the texts into smaller pieces and then comparing windows with the estimated PDFs (what if they aren't normal curves and what if that was an assumption in prior sutdies).
Another question I have is to whether contextual words would be useful. While I grant that non-contextual words may be best when an author is trying to immitate the style of someone, I would think that an author who is trying to have all characters come across as approximately equally intelligent and of similar upbringing would have them all share a closer vocabulary and phraseology. I should like to compare phraseology differences in the Old Testament with those of the Book of Mormon. Granted this may not demonstrate anything as the Book of Mormon authors may have had to learn from how the previous ones wrote and therefore been more homogenous than the Old Testament or New Testament.
Finally, one thing about the translation process I can't quite reconcile with wordprints is the undeniable inconsistancy in Jacobean English / present-day English. Sometimes verbs are conjugated with -eth, -est, etc., and sometimes they are not. Eg. you can find both "he has" and "he hath" in the Book of Mormon (and the D&C). If that isn't a sure sign of the translater's hand, I don't know what is. Of course I can also see how that might still allow for the translatee's wordprint to come through. It just makes me question how much the translator influenced the translation.
Ultimately perhaps these questions are worthless because neither a positive nor negative answer would seem to have much of an impact about whether the Book of Mormon is true.