Information Theory in English Prose
50 Questions
0 Views

Choose a study mode

Play Quiz
Study Flashcards
Spaced Repetition
Chat to lesson

Podcast

Play an AI-generated podcast conversation about this lesson

Questions and Answers

What does Shannon mean by the term ‘redundancy’ in the context of English prose?

  • The repetition of the same word or phrase multiple times.
  • The predictability of letters or words within a sequence. (correct)
  • The length of the words in sentences.
  • The presence of unnecessary letters in a word.
  • What percentage of English prose does Shannon estimate to be redundant?

  • 25 percent
  • 50 percent
  • 90 percent
  • 75 percent (correct)
  • Which of the following is an example of a highly redundant letter pairing in English?

  • tk
  • zs
  • th (correct)
  • qx
  • If a letter combination is very likely, what does that imply about the amount of information it conveys?

    <p>It conveys a minimal amount of information. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does Shannon's work on quantifying information help us to measure with regards to language?

    <p>The likelihood of words appearing in specific orders. (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Based on the passage, if writers use word combinations that are highly predictable, what is the effect on the information content of their work?

    <p>It decreases the information content. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    In the context of Shannon's work, which of the following is NOT something that can be quantified?

    <p>The number of synonyms for a particular word. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The article mentions that when the first couple of letters of a word were correct, the remainder of the word was easily guessed. What does this suggest about human interpretation of written language?

    <p>Humans rely heavily on redundancy for comprehension. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary purpose of the validation process described in the text?

    <p>To demonstrate the effectiveness of the tool in attributing authorship. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of the following sources is NOT listed as a primary resource for authorship attribution?

    <p>Personal correspondence of playwrights. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What type of plays are EXCLUDED from the set of works used for building author profiles?

    <p>Court masques and civic entertainments. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does the term 'relative entropy' refer to in the context of this validation?

    <p>A measure used to determine the stylistic distance between a play and an author’s profile. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does the acronym 'WAN' refer to in the context of this study?

    <p>A profile of each playwright. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary basis for determining authorship before using the tool?

    <p>A reasonable consensus in scholarship. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the next step after calculating the relative entropy between plays and author profiles?

    <p>Testing known collaborative plays against the author profiles. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Why are plays surviving only as small fragments, such as Jonson's Mortimer's Fall, excluded from the validation process?

    <p>They do not contain sufficient text for a reliable stylometric analysis.. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does Shannon's mathematics of relative entropy quantify?

    <p>The likelihood of a data source emitting a given symbol after another. (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    How is the difference between two WANs calculated using Shannon's relative entropy?

    <p>By subtracting the natural logarithm of the weight in the second WAN from the natural logarithm of the weight in the first WAN, then multiplying by the weight in the first WAN and the limit probability of the originating node. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Why is the calculation of the difference between two WANs performed twice, switching the designation of 'first' and 'second'?

    <p>To measure the absolute difference, since calculations are dependent on the order. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is 'entropy' in the context described in the text?

    <p>A measure of differential predictability within any symbolic system. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What do the 'symbols' represent when measuring collocation habits of writers?

    <p>Whole words. (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What makes 'th' a common combination of symbols in English?

    <p>It is a frequently used consonant cluster in words. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the goal of comparing WANs directly?

    <p>To measure the totality of differences between all corresponding edges in two networks. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    How is the author of a play determined in this method?

    <p>By identifying the author profile with the lowest relative entropy based on function word adjacencies. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What purpose does the deduction of the 'background reading' serve in the relative entropy calculation?

    <p>To normalize the relative entropy by creating a common reference for comparisons. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the significance of the 'limit probability' mentioned in the calculation?

    <p>It represents the long-term probability of the node from where the edge originates. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does a relative entropy of '0' between a play and an author profile indicate?

    <p>The play is as similar to that author as it is to the collective works of all six authors. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does a negative relative entropy between a play and an author profile suggest?

    <p>The play is more similar to that author's work than it is to the combined work of all six authors. (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    When testing a play against its known author's profile, what adjustment is made?

    <p>The play's analysis is excluded from the set of all plays by that author. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is considered a successful attribution outcome for a collaborative play?

    <p>If the top ranked author was involved in the collaboration. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What was the accuracy rate achieved when considering only the 94 plays with undisputed authorship?

    <p>93.6 percent. (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does the relative entropy method primarily use to distinguish between authors?

    <p>The adjacencies of function words found within their plays. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of the following words from the list is used to indicate a position relative to something else?

    <p>Amidst (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which word functions as a conjunction to link two contrasting ideas?

    <p>Although (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of the following is NOT typically a preposition indicating location or direction?

    <p>Therefore (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which word on this list is used to indicate a point in time?

    <p>Since (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of the words from the text is used to describe something that is 'on top of' or 'covering'?

    <p>Above (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which word could be categorized as indicating an exception or exclusion?

    <p>Barring (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of these words from the list is primarily used to indicate a quantity?

    <p>Several (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Among the provided function words, which one is used to express possession?

    <p>Its (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which word serves as a conjunction used to introduce a condition?

    <p>If (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of the following is a function word that can indicate a direction or a pathway?

    <p>Along (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which play is attributed to Ben Jonson?

    <p>Every Man in His Humour (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which work was written by Thomas Middleton?

    <p>The Witch (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the correct title of George Chapman's play associated with love and honor?

    <p>The Revenge of Bussy D’Ambois (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of the following is not a play written by Robert Greene?

    <p>Monsieur D’Olive (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which play written by Thomas Middleton features themes around betrayal and revenge?

    <p>The Revenger’s Tragedy (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of the following titles is written by George Peele?

    <p>The Arraignment of Paris (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which title was authored by Ben Jonson that reflects a comedic viewpoint on human nature?

    <p>The Devil Is an Ass (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of the following pairs matches a playwright with their respective play?

    <p>Ben Jonson - The Staple of News (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Study Notes

    Attributing Authorship of Henry VI Plays

    • Study by word adjacency, analyzing how frequently words appear together.
    • Authors have distinct patterns in word adjacency/collocations.
    • Shannon's theory of information helps quantify how predictable word choices are.
    • A word adjacency network (WAN) analyzes word proximity.
    • Rare word proximity is studied, as well as frequency of common words.
    • Authors have unique word patterns that can be quantitatively measured using WANs.

    Methodology

    • Analyze word placement in phrases and collocations (words appearing near each other).
    • Use software for corpus comparison for large-scale analyses.
    • Account for the size differences in the examined texts.
    • Statistical analysis of lexical choices is employed to distinguish authors.
    • Word adjacency networks can identify subtle differences in style.
    • Focus on patterns, rather than individual words or frequencies.
    • Normalize data for meaningful comparisons across texts.

    Results

    • A set of plays attributed to authors.
    • The study supports the theory that authors have unique word placement patterns, quantifiable through word adjacency.
    • Shows patterns of collocations and phrases to differentiate authors.
    • Successfully attributes authorship in contentious cases.

    Studying That Suits You

    Use AI to generate personalized quizzes and flashcards to suit your learning preferences.

    Quiz Team

    Description

    Explore Shannon's concepts of redundancy and information in English prose. This quiz delves into the percentage of redundancy in language, the implications of predictable letter pairings, and how these factors affect meaning and interpretation. Test your understanding of language quantification based on Shannon's work.

    More Like This

    Use Quizgecko on...
    Browser
    Browser