IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/phsmap/v388y2009i6p916-926.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Shakespeare and other English Renaissance authors as characterized by Information Theory complexity quantifiers

Author

Listed:
  • Rosso, Osvaldo A.
  • Craig, Hugh
  • Moscato, Pablo

Abstract

We introduce novel Information Theory quantifiers in a computational linguistic study that involves a large corpus of English Renaissance literature. The 185 texts studied (136 plays and 49 poems in total), with first editions that range from 1580 to 1640, form a representative set of its period. Our data set includes 30 texts unquestionably attributed to Shakespeare; in addition we also included A Lover’s Complaint, a poem which generally appears in Shakespeare collected editions but whose authorship is currently in dispute. Our statistical complexity quantifiers combine the power of Jensen–Shannon’s divergence with the entropy variations as computed from a probability distribution function of the observed word use frequencies. Our results show, among other things, that for a given entropy poems display higher complexity than plays, that Shakespeare’s work falls into two distinct clusters in entropy, and that his work is remarkable for its homogeneity and for its closeness to overall means.

Suggested Citation

  • Rosso, Osvaldo A. & Craig, Hugh & Moscato, Pablo, 2009. "Shakespeare and other English Renaissance authors as characterized by Information Theory complexity quantifiers," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 388(6), pages 916-926.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:388:y:2009:i:6:p:916-926
    DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2008.11.018
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378437108009461
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only. Journal offers the option of making the article available online on Science direct for a fee of $3,000
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.physa.2008.11.018?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zunino, L. & Pérez, D.G. & Kowalski, A. & Martín, M.T. & Garavaglia, M. & Plastino, A. & Rosso, O.A., 2008. "Fractional Brownian motion, fractional Gaussian noise, and Tsallis permutation entropy," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 387(24), pages 6057-6068.
    2. Zhou, Hongding & Slater, Gary W., 2003. "A metric to search for relevant words," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 329(1), pages 309-327.
    3. Marcelo A. Montemurro & Damián H. Zanette, 2002. "Entropic Analysis Of The Role Of Words In Literary Texts," Advances in Complex Systems (ACS), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 5(01), pages 7-17.
    4. Martin, M.T. & Plastino, A. & Rosso, O.A., 2006. "Generalized statistical complexity measures: Geometrical and analytical properties," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 369(2), pages 439-462.
    5. Korol, A.M. & Rasia, R.J. & Rosso, O.A., 2007. "Alterations of thalassemic erythrocytes detected by wavelet entropy," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 375(1), pages 257-264.
    6. Antiqueira, L. & Nunes, M.G.V. & Oliveira Jr., O.N. & F. Costa, L. da, 2007. "Strong correlations between text quality and complex networks features," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 373(C), pages 811-820.
    7. Lamberti, P.W & Martin, M.T & Plastino, A & Rosso, O.A, 2004. "Intensive entropic non-triviality measure," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 334(1), pages 119-131.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Aurelio F. Bariviera & Luciano Zunino & M. Belen Guercio & Lisana B. Martinez & Osvaldo A. Rosso, 2015. "Efficiency and credit ratings: a permutation-information-theory analysis," Papers 1509.01839, arXiv.org.
    2. Zunino, Luciano & Tabak, Benjamin M. & Serinaldi, Francesco & Zanin, Massimiliano & Pérez, Darío G. & Rosso, Osvaldo A., 2011. "Commodity predictability analysis with a permutation information theory approach," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 390(5), pages 876-890.
    3. Ribeiro, E.M.S. & Prataviera, G.A., 2014. "Information theoretic approach for accounting classification," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 416(C), pages 651-660.
    4. Kowalski, A.M. & Martín, M.T. & Plastino, A. & Rosso, O.A., 2011. "Fisher information description of the classical–quantal transition," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 390(12), pages 2435-2441.
    5. Mateos, Diego M. & Zozor, Steeve & Olivares, Felipe, 2020. "Contrasting stochasticity with chaos in a permutation Lempel–Ziv complexity — Shannon entropy plane," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 554(C).
    6. Zunino, Luciano & Zanin, Massimiliano & Tabak, Benjamin M. & Pérez, Darío G. & Rosso, Osvaldo A., 2010. "Complexity-entropy causality plane: A useful approach to quantify the stock market inefficiency," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 389(9), pages 1891-1901.
    7. Olivares, Felipe & Plastino, Angelo & Rosso, Osvaldo A., 2012. "Ambiguities in Bandt–Pompe’s methodology for local entropic quantifiers," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 391(8), pages 2518-2526.
    8. Zunino, Luciano & Ribeiro, Haroldo V., 2016. "Discriminating image textures with the multiscale two-dimensional complexity-entropy causality plane," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 679-688.
    9. Rosso, Osvaldo A. & Carpi, Laura C. & Saco, Patricia M. & Gómez Ravetti, Martín & Plastino, Angelo & Larrondo, Hilda A., 2012. "Causality and the entropy–complexity plane: Robustness and missing ordinal patterns," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 391(1), pages 42-55.
    10. De Micco, Luciana & Fernández, Juana Graciela & Larrondo, Hilda A. & Plastino, Angelo & Rosso, Osvaldo A., 2012. "Sampling period, statistical complexity, and chaotic attractors," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 391(8), pages 2564-2575.
    11. Aurelio F. Bariviera & M. Belen Guercio & Lisana B. Martinez & Osvaldo A. Rosso, 2015. "A permutation Information Theory tour through different interest rate maturities: the Libor case," Papers 1509.00217, arXiv.org.
    12. Ausloos, M., 2012. "Measuring complexity with multifractals in texts. Translation effects," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 45(11), pages 1349-1357.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zunino, Luciano & Zanin, Massimiliano & Tabak, Benjamin M. & Pérez, Darío G. & Rosso, Osvaldo A., 2010. "Complexity-entropy causality plane: A useful approach to quantify the stock market inefficiency," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 389(9), pages 1891-1901.
    2. De Micco, Luciana & Fernández, Juana Graciela & Larrondo, Hilda A. & Plastino, Angelo & Rosso, Osvaldo A., 2012. "Sampling period, statistical complexity, and chaotic attractors," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 391(8), pages 2564-2575.
    3. Aurelio F. Bariviera & Luciano Zunino & M. Belen Guercio & Lisana B. Martinez & Osvaldo A. Rosso, 2015. "Efficiency and credit ratings: a permutation-information-theory analysis," Papers 1509.01839, arXiv.org.
    4. Ke, Xiaohua & Zeng, Yongqiang & Ma, Qinghua & Zhu, Lin, 2014. "Complex dynamics of text analysis," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 415(C), pages 307-314.
    5. Mateos, Diego M. & Zozor, Steeve & Olivares, Felipe, 2020. "Contrasting stochasticity with chaos in a permutation Lempel–Ziv complexity — Shannon entropy plane," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 554(C).
    6. Zunino, Luciano & Tabak, Benjamin M. & Serinaldi, Francesco & Zanin, Massimiliano & Pérez, Darío G. & Rosso, Osvaldo A., 2011. "Commodity predictability analysis with a permutation information theory approach," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 390(5), pages 876-890.
    7. Aquino, Andre L.L. & Ramos, Heitor S. & Frery, Alejandro C. & Viana, Leonardo P. & Cavalcante, Tamer S.G. & Rosso, Osvaldo A., 2017. "Characterization of electric load with Information Theory quantifiers," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 465(C), pages 277-284.
    8. Bariviera, Aurelio F. & Font-Ferrer, Alejandro & Sorrosal-Forradellas, M. Teresa & Rosso, Osvaldo A., 2019. "An information theory perspective on the informational efficiency of gold price," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    9. Fernandes, Leonardo H.S. & de Araujo, Fernando H.A. & Tabak, Benjamin M., 2021. "Insights from the (in)efficiency of Chinese sectoral indices during COVID-19," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 578(C).
    10. Montani, Fernando & Deleglise, Emilia B. & Rosso, Osvaldo A., 2014. "Efficiency characterization of a large neuronal network: A causal information approach," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 401(C), pages 58-70.
    11. Calbet, Xavier & López-Ruiz, Ricardo, 2007. "Extremum complexity distribution of a monodimensional ideal gas out of equilibrium," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 382(2), pages 523-530.
    12. Aurelio Fernandez Bariviera & María Belén Guercio & Lisana B. Martinez & Osvaldo A. Rosso, 2015. "The (in)visible hand in the Libor market: an information theory approach," The European Physical Journal B: Condensed Matter and Complex Systems, Springer;EDP Sciences, vol. 88(8), pages 1-9, August.
    13. Antiqueira, L. & Nunes, M.G.V. & Oliveira Jr., O.N. & F. Costa, L. da, 2007. "Strong correlations between text quality and complex networks features," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 373(C), pages 811-820.
    14. Zhang, Boyi & Shang, Pengjian & Zhou, Qin, 2021. "The identification of fractional order systems by multiscale multivariate analysis," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    15. Stosic, Darko & Stosic, Dusan & Ludermir, Teresa B. & Stosic, Tatijana, 2019. "Exploring disorder and complexity in the cryptocurrency space," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 525(C), pages 548-556.
    16. Mateos, Diego M. & Gómez-Ramírez, Jaime & Rosso, Osvaldo A., 2021. "Using time causal quantifiers to characterize sleep stages," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    17. de Novaes Pires Leite, Gustavo & da Cunha, Guilherme Tenório Maciel & dos Santos Junior, José Guilhermino & Araújo, Alex Maurício & Rosas, Pedro André Carvalho & Stosic, Tatijana & Stosic, Borko & Ros, 2021. "Alternative fault detection and diagnostic using information theory quantifiers based on vibration time-waveforms from condition monitoring systems: Application to operational wind turbines," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 1183-1194.
    18. Argyroudis, George S. & Siokis, Fotios M., 2019. "Spillover effects of Great Recession on Hong-Kong’s Real Estate Market: An analysis based on Causality Plane and Tsallis Curves of Complexity–Entropy," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 524(C), pages 576-586.
    19. Jauregui, M. & Zunino, L. & Lenzi, E.K. & Mendes, R.S. & Ribeiro, H.V., 2018. "Characterization of time series via Rényi complexity–entropy curves," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 498(C), pages 74-85.
    20. Aurelio F. Bariviera & Luciano Zunino & Osvaldo A. Rosso, 2018. "An analysis of high-frequency cryptocurrencies prices dynamics using permutation-information-theory quantifiers," Papers 1808.01926, arXiv.org.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:388:y:2009:i:6:p:916-926. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/physica-a-statistical-mechpplications/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.