pp xii324 1996 hardback
ISBN 0-7083-1324-8
`A first-rate book, a definitive and admirably lucid exposition of the QSUM technique.'
Sir Kenneth Dover` . . . a remarkable book in applied stylometry . . . ' (The Semiotic Review of Books) Link to full review
Analysing for Authorship is the first book to provide a clear and comprehensive guide to the cusum technique, a scientific method for the attribution of utterance.
Attributing authorship is often a matter of legal urgency or fierce scholarly debate. Did Derek Bentley really make that confession? Was the story just discovered really by D. H. Lawrence? The cusum (cumulative sum) technique (or QSUM), developed in 1988 by Andrew Q. Morton, is a recognition system applied to human utterance, whether written or spoken, based on analysing sequences of language units by a cumulative sum method of counting. Each person's QSUM `fingerprint' retains consistency across his or her written and spoken utterance and across different genres.
Problems addressed and illustrated in this book include the application of QSUM in legal and forensic cases (contested confessions and statements, anonymous letters); in proving or disproving plagiarism; in identifying edited or translated text; in the analysis of authorship of disputed literary and theological texts. Jill Farringdon demonstrates the consistency of the QSUM fingerprint over time , for literary subjects and in the early utterance of children combined with their adult utterance. She also examines QSUM application to dialect and non-standard English.
This book provides a full account of the cusum method, detailed instructions on how to make QSUM-charts, a wealth of illustrative examples and a real literary test case.
`. . . a fascinating book. . .for the first time, the QSUM technique is explained in lucid detail, the objections to it are cogently refuted, and the method's efficacy in solving particular problems of authorship attribution in literature and in law is, in a quite literal sense, graphically demonstrated. There is a remarkable chapter on the development of speech in Helen Keller. And there are literary examples aplenty, among them the authors of The Federalist papers (James Madison and Alexander Hamilton) and Mark Twain; D. H. Lawrence, Muriel Spark, Tom Stoppard, Anthony Burgess - and Henry Fielding . . . There are pitfalls to be avoided, and technical subtleties to be mastered. . .Jill Farringdon carefully identifies these difficulties and, in prose that is clear and jargon free, tells us how to deal with them.' Professor Martin C. Battestin, Department of English, University of Virginia.
'For those inclined to look into its possibilities there is certainly no other book so well able to introduce, explain and illustrate this method of analysis. (Swansea Review)
Author: Jill Farringdon is a freelance writer and currently works as an authorship attribution consultant. Until 1985 she was a Lecturer in English Literature and in the Teaching of English in the Classroom at the West Glamorgan Institute of Higher Education, Swansea.
Contributors: Andrew Q. Morton, a retired minister, Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Honourary Fellow of the Computer Science Department of Glasgow University, has been described as the world's foremost authority on authorship attribution. He has given expert evidence in court in England, Australia and the USA. Michael Farringdon has recently retired as Lecturer in Computing in the European School of Business Management, University of Wales, Swansea. He is a Fellow of the British Computer Society. He is internationally known for his work on, and studies of, authorship attribution over the past thirty years and he has given expert evidence in courts in England and Ireland since 1992. M. David Baker is a computer information systems consultant and is a Fellow of the British Computer Society. He has submitted legal reports as an expert witness, and given evidence in cases in Northern Ireland since 1993.
CONTENTS
PART I
Introduction and history: the method of cusum analysis and a test case
Chapter 1 Introduction
What is the cumulative sum technique? How to read a QSUMchart. A short history: the search for an objective method of authorship attribution by statistical methods. The development of QSUM to date: A. Q. Morton, and his investigations into question of authorship; the purpose of the invention of QSUM
Chapter 2 The Method
Learning to make graphs and QSUMcharts: detailed instruction (with explanation of terms) on attributing a sample of utterance, spoken or written. Starting with yourself: making charts of your own writing or speaking. The four stages of testing, including a note on processing text for analysis. Examples from the author's own writing over time. A note on the `habit' and linguistics
Chapter 3 A Test Case for the Attribution of Authorship
A cusum analysis of `The Back Road', a short story newly attributed to D. H. Lawrence
PART II
Literary and linguistic attributions: the range of QSUM
Chapter 4 Fingerprinting Authors
Muriel Spark, `finding a voice' and the QSUMchart. Spark, W. J. Weatherby and being edited: whose QSUM `fingerprint'?
Chapter 5 Henry Fielding as Translator
Attributing a work of anonymous translation: The Military History of Charles XII, 1740, translated into English from the French of Gustavus Adlerfeld, and attributed to Henry Fielding
Chapter 6 QSUM and Young Language
The attribution of children's written utterance. Helen Keller's early writing: the triadic nature of language? The emergence of a language `fingerprint'. Stability over time. Examples of analysing children's utterance. Differences between children, including identical twins. Helen Keller and accusations of plagiarism (1890)
Chapter 7 Literary Attributions: Varieties and Forms
Analysis of dialect: Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn. An invented language: Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange and `Nadsat'. The hostile sceptic: Tom Stoppard and Arcadia. A confederacy of sceptics: Martin Battestin and the attribution of New Essays by Henry Fielding. The Federalist problem solved: QSUM's attribution of a single sentence. The Diary of Gerald Keegan: the Irish diary and the Canadian publisher two authors? Five cautionary tales from Andrew Morton
PART III
Forensic applications: preparing a legal report; attributing nonstandard English; the critics answered
Chapter 8 Legal Applications Michael Farringdon
Documents and spoken utterance requiring attribution: confessions, statements, letters. The problems of transcription. Tests for discrimination. Preparing a legal report
Chapter 9 NonStandard English and the Courts: Linguistic/Social Background
English as a foreign language: the EFLspeaker in court.
A Case History M. David Baker
Detailed analysis of a case involving four accused men from the same social and educational background.
Chapter 10 The Critics Answered Michael Farringdon
A response to criticism of the cusum technique
PART IV
A detailed account of the development of the cusum technique
Chapter 11 The Question of Authorship A. Q. Morton
A comprehensive and technical account of the development of the cusum technique, delineating the principles of the scientific attribution of authorship, with illustrations from Greek and English.