Stilometrijska analiza slovenske pripovjedne književnosti do prve izvorne slovenske priče

Abstract

STYLOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF SLOVENIAN NARRATIVE LITERATURE UP TO THE FIRST ORIGINAL SLOVENIAN NARRATIVE Quantitative approaches in studying literature already have a long tradition, reac-hing back to the period before digital humanities became an established field in the humanities. An important impetus for the establishment of quantitative methods in the humanities was provided by increasing computer power and increasingly extensive corpuses of machine-readable words. Theoretical concepts refer to the new methodological paradigms as distant reading. Even though it is supposed to replace close reading, it has repeatedly been shown that traditional research forms the necessary basis for relevant quantitative research and new relevant findings. Stylometry, or quantitative analysis of style, applies statistical methods to literary texts. The analysis entails text comparison in terms of similarities and differences in measurable text characteristics, such as the most frequent words. This is a well-pro-ven method, which, however, has certain limitations. Stylometry is a text-immanent method that does not provide absolutely valid answers or general findings about style. In addition, the definition of measurable characteristics and the comparison method used remain in the domain of the researchers and their familiarity with the material. However, it allows a simultaneous overview of a large collection of texts and hence reaches beyond the established canon incorporating trivial literature and translated literature as an important segment of national literature, especially in its early periods. Stylometric analysis identifies text patterns, which can either be confirmed by qualitative research or can indicate the necessity for a new approach to traditional research. The visualization of results of the stylometric analysis of Slovenian narrative literature from the first half of the seventeenth century to the first original Slovenian narrative in 1836 shows the development of Slovenian narra-tive literature by period, with identifiable hallmarks of certain authors, and within individual periods and genres. Certain links indicate a need for further research.

Keywords

• slovenian narrative literature
• original slovenian literature
• stylometry
• distant reading
• stylo package
• gephi