Reviews essays on statistical analysis of literature from the journal "Computers and the Humanities." Divides the essays into four groups: the philosophical, statistical analyses of language, literary texts, and themes. Questions whether valid statistical analysis of any text must be based on complete linguistic description. Emphasizes…

Illustrates how Radial Basis Function (RBF) network techniques can be used to explore questions concerning authorship of historic documents. Demonstrates the utility and potential for using quantitative techniques to assist in the decision-making process in relatively subjective disciplines. Compares RBF neural network techniques with more…

Discusses the use of an instructional morphological parser (IMP) in the teaching of courses in theoretical and computational morphology. Provides an overview of computational morphology. Outlines the two courses and speculates on computational and linguistic concepts that students learned. Examines problems encountered in teaching about recursion.…

Identifies problems and proposes solutions for encoding verse texts in Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML). Discusses formal properties that distinguish verse from prose. Recommends that metrical and rhyme conventions always be tagged at the highest possible level of text divisions. (CFR)

Describes how linguistic analysis can change the computer from a generator of data that can be used to develop a critical analysis to a tool that provides a means to explore the processes and inputs that generate different interpretations of literary works. Illustrates this concept by analyzing a Shakespearean sonnet. (CFR)

Discusses "Minds and Machines," a one-semester undergraduate course for nontechnical majors. Explains that the course examines how philosophical problems of knowledge, cognition, language, and human nature can be investigated with computer-related concepts and techniques. Describes experiments conducted during the course, including mind…

Describes the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) guidelines' approach to describing hypertext features. Discusses the rationale behind the design of the tagset and the range of features included in the guidelines. Discusses the relation and integration of TEI mark-up and the HyTime standard. (CFR)

Provides an overview of the development of humanities computing during the past 25 years. Mentions the major applications of the computer to humanities disciplines including the generation of concordances, attempts at dating works of major authors, proving authorship, defining style, and compiling indexes. Discusses lexicographical uses and…

Maintains that both traditional and computerized scholars face problems when they attempt empirical research on women writers and women readers using currently available computational tools. Discusses factors that have inhibited empirical research and uses examples from research on 18th century English poetry. (CFR)

Presents an annotated bibliography of works related to the subject of computers and the humanities. Groups items into textbooks and overviews; introductions; human and computer languages; literary and linguistic analysis; artificial intelligence and robotics; social issue debates; computers' image in fiction; anthologies; writing and the…

Assesses the progress made in computational stylistics over the past 25 years. Discusses theoretical notions of style. Describes certain trends that emerge from relevant articles in conference proceedings and academic journals. Concludes there has been progress in the accumulation of data, the creation of databases and archives, and construction…

Contends that computer-aided literature studies have failed to impact the field as a whole. Asserts that new databases, such as TLG or ARTFL, allow wide-spectrum analyses that may transform the way in which literature is studied. (CFR)

Examines how sound spectrographs provide students learning a second language direct, visual feedback that is more useful than instructors' comments on articulation. Shows spectrographs of words pronounced by native and non-native English speakers. Argues this real-time acoustic analysis is less frustrating and more productive than traditional…

Asserts that humanities computing techniques and methodologies remain marginal to mainstream literary scholarship. Argues for large scale analyses of text databases that would incorporate a shift in theoretical orientation to include greater stress on intertextuality and sign theory. (CFR)

Argues that the combination of collaborative writing and electronic resources can produce a reaffirmation of literacy as a social process. Utilizes feminist theory to equate the postmodernist assumptions regarding the indeterminate nature of language with democratizing influences. Describes a class project where students produced a collaborative,…