Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Home
Hostname: page-component-55597f9d44-vkn6t Total loading time: 0.331 Render date: 2022-08-16T07:39:38.419Z Has data issue: true Feature Flags: { "shouldUseShareProductTool": true, "shouldUseHypothesis": true, "isUnsiloEnabled": true, "useRatesEcommerce": false, "useNewApi": true } hasContentIssue true
  • English
Journal of Linguistics Journal of Linguistics

Article contents

How useful is the logarithmic type/token ratio?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Michael Weitzman
Michael Weitzman
Affiliation:
Univerrity College, London
Get access Rights & Permissions[Opens in a new window]

Extract

What has been described as ‘one of the most remarkable (facts) in quantitative linguistics’ is the constancy of the logarithmic type/token ratio. If V denotes vocabulary and N text length, then log V/log N ‘remains sensibly constant for samples of different size from a given literary text’.1

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Linguistics , Volume 7 , Issue 2 , September 1971 , pp. 237 - 243
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1971

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Grayston, K. & Herdan, G. (1960). The authorship of the Pastorals in the light of statistical linguistics. New Testament Studies 6.Google Scholar
Guiraud, P. (1960). Problèmes et méthodes de la statistique linguistique. Paris.Google Scholar
Harrison, P. N. (1921). The problem of the pastoral epistles. London.Google Scholar
Herdan, G. (1960). Type-token mathematics. (Janua Linguamm, series maior, 4). The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Herdan, G. (1964). Quantitative linguistics. London.Google Scholar
Herdan, G. (1966). The advanced theory of language as choice and chance. Kommunikation und Kybernetik in Einzeldarstellungen; herausgegeben von H. Wolter und W. D. Keidel, Band 4. Springer-Verlag: Berlin–Heidelberg–New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Josselson, H. H. (1953). The Russian word count. (Paragraph 5 is by B. Epstein.) Detroit.Google Scholar
Kümmel, W. G. (1966). Introduction to the New Testament (translated by Mattill, A. J.). London.Google Scholar
Mersand, J. (1939). Chaucer's Romance vocabulary. New York.Google Scholar
Papp, F. (1961), in Voprosy Yazuikoznaniya 6. 93 ff.Google Scholar
Yule, G. U. (1944). The statistical study of literary vocabulary. Cambridge.Google Scholar
5
Cited by

Save article to Kindle

To save this article to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

How useful is the logarithmic type/token ratio?
Available formats
×

Save article to Dropbox

To save this article to your Dropbox account, please select one or more formats and confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you used this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your Dropbox account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

How useful is the logarithmic type/token ratio?
Available formats
×

Save article to Google Drive

To save this article to your Google Drive account, please select one or more formats and confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you used this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your Google Drive account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

How useful is the logarithmic type/token ratio?
Available formats
×
×

Reply to: Submit a response

Please enter your response.

Your details

Please enter a valid email address.

Conflicting interests

Do you have any conflicting interests? *