Aitken, Brian

Alexander, Marc

Dallachy, Fraser

Fitzmaurice, Susan

Groves, Matthew

Hine, Iona

Mehl, Seth

Pidd, Michael

Robinson, Justyna

Rogers, Kathryn

English

Enlighten

      Fitzmaurice, S., Robinson, J., Hine, I., Dallachy, F., Rogers, K., Alexander, M., Pidd, M., Mehl, S., Groves, M. and Aitken, B. (2017) The Seven Words of the Virgin: Identifying Change in the Discourse Context of the Concept of Virginity in Early Modern English. In: Digital Humanities 2017, Montréal, QC, Canada, 08-11 Aug 2017, pp. 225-227.     There may be differences between this version and the published version. You are advised to consult the publisher’s version if you wish to cite from it.    http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/154652/              Deposited on: 4 January 2018                       Enlighten – Research publications by members of the University of Glasgow http://eprints.gla.ac.uk  The Seven Words of the Virgin: Identifying change in the discourse context of the concept of virginity in Early Modern English 	Susan	Fitzmaurice	s.fitzmaurice@sheffield.ac.uk	University	of	Sheffield		Justyna	Robinson	justyna.robinson@sussex.ac.uk	University	of	Sussex		Iona	Hine	i.hine@sheffield.ac.uk	University	of	Sheffield		Fraser	Dallachy	fraser.dallachy@glasgow.ac.uk.	University	of	Glasgow		Kathryn	Rogers	k.m.rogers@sheffield.ac.uk	University	of	Sheffield		Marc	Alexander	marc.alexander@glasgow.ac.uk	University	of	Glasgow		Michael	Pidd	m.pidd@sheffield.ac.uk	University	of	Sheffield		Seth	Mehl	seth.mehl.10@ucl.ac.uk	University	of	Sheffield		Matthew	Groves	m.i.groves@sheffield.ac.uk	University	of	Sheffield		Brian	Aitken	brianaAitken@glasgow.ac.uk	University	of	Glasgow		Introduction The	Linguistic	DNA	project	(LDNA)	is	an	AHRC-funded	 collaborative	 project	 (AHRC	 grant	AH/M00614X/1)	between	 the	universities	of	 Shef-field,	Glasgow,	and	Sussex	which	is	designing	auto-matic	 processes	 to	 investigate	 the	 emergence	 and	development	of	concepts	in	pre-1800	CE	print.	Em-ploying	Early	English	Books	Online,	manually-tran-scribed	 through	 the	 Text	 Creation	 Partnership	(EEBO-TCP)	as	its	primary	dataset,	supplemented	by	Eighteenth	 Century	 Collections	Online	 (ECCO-TCP)	and	other	high-quality	18th-century	text	collections,	the	project	 is	developing	and	refining	a	processing	pipeline	which	assembles	groupings	of	words	bound	together	 by	 their	 contextual	 use	 in	 printed	 dis-course.	The	project	is	charting	development	of	these	discourse-embedded	word	 groups	 across	 time,	 in-vestigating	how	they	are	shaped	by	historical	and	lit-erary	contexts,	the	boundaries	and	overlap	between	the	groupings,	and	the	interaction	of	 ‘encyclopedic’	groupings	with	more	traditional	‘thesaurus’-style	se-mantic	fields.	This	paper	discusses	results	from	a	branch	of	the	project	 which	 is	 investigating	 incidences	 of	 rapid	change	 in	 the	size	of	 semantic	categories	as	 repre-sented	in	The	Historical	Thesaurus	of	English	(Kay	et	al.,	2016).	Development	of	concepts	through	size	of	Thesaurus	 categories	 has	 been	 investigated	 previ-ously	(cf.	Alexander	and	Struan,	2013;	Jürgen-Diller,	2014),	although	the	extra	dimension	provided	by	the	outputs	 of	 the	 LDNA	 processor	 allows	 a	 dramatic	leap	forward	in	such	research	by	enabling	identifica-tion	of	 instances	 in	which	change	 in	discourse-em-bedded	word	 groupings	 acts	 as	 catalyst	 for	 corre-sponding	rapid	change	in	the	semantic	fields	of	Eng-lish.	The	present	case	study	investigates	words	relat-ing	 to	 the	concept	of	 ‘virginity’,	utilising	processed	time-slice	subsets	of	EEBO-TCP	as	snapshots	of	the	discourse	context	 for	these	words	 in	Early	Modern	English	 print.	 By	 building	 sample	 word-groupings	(the	term	‘cluster’	is	here	avoided	to	avoid	confusion	with	cluster	or	network	analysis	word	clusters)	for	each	of	the	subsets,	it	establishes	the	discourse	con-text	 of	 ‘virginity’	 words	 at	 different	 points	 in	 the	timespan	 covered	 by	 EEBO-TCP.	 Comparison	 of	these	 groupings	 suggests	 change	 in	 focus	 of	 lan-guage	users,	through	which	a	largely	religious	con-text	of	use	opens	out	to	a	secular	and	then	a	poetic	literary	context,	suggesting	that	society’s	conscious-ness	of	 this	 concept	 and	 the	 scale	on	which	 it	was	discussed	 enlarged	dramatically	 in	 the	period	 cov-ered	by	the	sub-corpora.	Methodology 	 In	order	to	select	a	Historical	Thesaurus	category	for	analysis,	an	average	pattern	of	change	over	time	was	established.	The	Thesaurus	arranges	the	words	of	 the	 English	 language	 into	 a	 semantic	 hierarchy	that	is	seven	category	levels	deep	with	the	potential	for	up	to	four	further	sub-category	levels	within	any	given	category.	Owing	to	the	incredibly	fine-grained	nature	of	the	sense	categorisation	in	the	Thesaurus,	it	was	necessary	to	‘cut’	the	hierarchy	at	human	scale	using	a	thematic	category	set,	developed	during	the	AHRC-	 and	 ESRC-funded	 SAMUELS	 project	 (Grant	AH/L010062/1),	which	is	intended	to	allow	Thesau-rus	users	to	find	information	at	a	level	that	is	salient	to	human	beings	–	i.e.	neither	too	general	nor	too	de-tailed.			Figure 1: Sparkline showing growth of ‘Virginity’ category from 1000 CE to 2000 CE in context of surrounding thematic categories (which are themselves unusual as they are lexicalised only in later periods of English) 	 The	 number	 of	 lexemes	 within	 each	 category	level	was	counted,	and	lexemes	were	filtered	to	in-clude	only	those	active	within	the	approximate	time	range	of	the	EEBO-TCP	collection,	i.e.	1475-1700	CE.	This	data	was	aggregated	so	that	the	change	in	the	mean	contents	of	a	category	could	be	viewed	across	time,	and	decade-to-decade	percentage	changes	cal-culated.	 Individual	 categories	were	 then	 compared	to	this	average	category	change,	and	a	deviation	of	more	than	5%	from	the	average	change	considered	to	be	 significant.	Out	of	 the	 categories	which	were	marked	 as	 statistically	 unusual	 from	 this	 process,	category	‘AI09g	Virginity’	was	selected	as	promising	because	 the	 items	 in	 its	 lexis	 had	 a	 relatively	 low	number	of	homographs	that	could	skew	the	results	towards	irrelevant	information.	Testing	of	 the	LDNA	processor	outputs	 is	being	conducted	 on	 select	 subsets	 extracted	 to	 provide	snapshots	across	the	EEBO	time-period.	The	subsets	used	for	this	paper	cover	the	periods	1520-39,	1550-59,	1610-11,	and	1649.	They	are	designed	to	contain	a	 similar	number	of	 tokens;	 the	progressively	con-tracting	timespans	reflect	the	concomitant	growth	of	printed	material	 throughout	the	15th	 to	17th	centu-ries.	 Each	 token	 in	 the	 text	 is	 regularised,	 lemma-tised,	and	tagged	with	a	NUPOS	part	of	speech	tag	via	the	 MorphAdorner	 pipeline	 developed	 by	 Martin	Müller	and	Philip	Burns	(Burns,	2013).	Data	is	then	gathered	by	the	LDNA	processor	for	the	token’s	co-occurrences	 within	 100-	 and	 200-word	 bi-direc-tional	windows	which	are	intended	to	simulate	par-agraph-like	sections	of	the	proximate	discourse	(cf.	Fitzmaurice	 et	 al.	 forthcoming).	 Pointwise	 Mutual	Information	(PMI)	 is	used	to	provide	a	statistic	 for	likelihood	of	word	co-occurrences;	a	minimum	PMI	value	of	0.5	was	arrived	at	experimentally	for	iden-tifying	node-collocate	pairs	 to	be	considered	 inter-esting	in	initial	stages	of	investigation.		Seven	items	–	‘maid,’	‘maiden,’	‘maidenhead,’	‘un-defiled,’	‘vestal,’	‘virgin,’	and	‘virginity’	–	in	the	‘Vir-ginity’	 category	were	 found	 to	 be	 present	 consist-ently	across	 the	subsets	(although	an	eighth	–	 ‘vir-ginal’	 –	 was	 present	 in	 the	 1520-39	 and	 1610-11	subsets).	 The	 co-occurrences	were	 then	 processed	to	identify	those	which	occurred	with	multiple	items	in	 this	 list.	Words	which	 co-occurred	with	 four	 or	more	items	were	investigated	further.	Results Comparison	of	 the	 co-occurrence	 results	 across	the	five	text	subsets	shows	a	consistent	shift	in	the	patterns	 of	 word	 association	 with	 ‘Virginity’	 cate-gory	items.	The	words	‘woman’	and	‘widow’	remain	strongly	associated	with	the	terms	across	all	the	sub-sets,	demonstrating	societal	preoccupation	with	fe-male	 rather	 than	male	 virginity.	 The	most	 evident	change	in	the	grouping	is	movement	from	a	predom-inately	 religious	discourse	 context	 into	 the	 secular	world.	In	the	1520-39	subset,	the	Virgin	Mary	is	inti-mately	 related	 to	 discussion	 of	 virginity.	 In	 the	shared	collocates	 listing,	mother	 collocates	with	all	seven	of	the	‘Virginity’	lexemes,	‘mary’	with	six,	‘an-gel,’	‘bless,’	‘hymn,’	‘nativity,’	and	‘nazareth’	with	five	each.	Of	these,	only	‘mother’	maintains	a	strong	as-sociation	 with	 ‘Virginity’	 words	 throughout	 the	EEBO	period,	appearing	with	four	items	in	the	1610-11	text	set	and	five	in	1649.	The	secularisation	of	the	term	is	suggested	by	the	prevalence	in	later	subsets	of	words	relating	to	mar-riage,	reflecting	what	appears	to	be	a	growing	focus	on	 wedlock	 being	 preceded	 by	 virginity.	 ‘Marry’	gradually	 increases	 its	 association	 with	 the	 node	items,	 collocating	 with	 four,	 then	 five,	 then	 seven	from	1520	to	1649.		‘Marriage’	and	‘wife’	both	enter	the	shared	collocate	group	in	1550,	and	remain	there	through	 to	 1649,	 whilst	 ‘matrimony’	 is	 present	 in	1550,	drops	out	in	1610,	and	returns	in	1649.	The	extensive	list	of	shared	collocates	in	the	1649	sub-corpus	strongly	reflects	the	greater	prevalence	of	literary	fiction	and	poetry	in	printers’	output	and	reinforces	that	virginity	is	a	topic	for	which	the	dis-course	context	is	expanding;	where	it	was	easy	to	in-tuitively	 group	 ‘marry,’	 ‘marriage,’	 and	 ‘wife’	 to-gether,	the	1649	collocates	do	not	form	easily	iden-tifiable	groupings.		Discussion The	 consistency	 of	 the	 core	 items	 found	 in	 the	subsets	 is	 interesting	 in	 its	disparity	with	 the	The-saurus	 data,	 where	 the	 increase	 in	 the	 number	 of	terms	 present	 in	 the	 ‘Virginity’	 category	 suggests	that	there	should	be	an	expanding	number	of	items	found	throughout	these	subsets.	The	most	likely	ex-planation	 for	 this	 is	 loss	 of	 low	 frequency	 infor-mation	 through	a	 combination	of	 cut-off	values	 in-tended	 to	 reduce	 noise	 for	 later	 clustering	 experi-ments,	 and	 difficulty	 in	 normalising/lemmatising	low	frequency	items.	A	clear	outcome	of	the	analysis	is	 the	 confirmation	 that	 the	 category	 of	 ‘Virginity’	contains	core	vocabulary	which	remains	almost	un-changed	in	over	a	century	(i.e.	1520-1649),	primar-ily	a	consistent	group	of	seven	items	which	co-occur	with	‘Virginity’	category	words.	This	 study	 demonstrates	 that	 understanding	 of	semantic	 development	 can	 be	 enriched	 by	 such	cross-analysis	 of	 discursive-concept	 word	 groups	with	Thesaurus	semantic	fields	and	the	word	groups	which	 travel	 through	 time	 with	 multiple	 items	 of	Thesaurus	categories.	Bibliography Alexander,	M.	 and	Struan,	A.	 (2013).	 “‘In	Countries	 so	Unciviliz’d	 as	 Those?’:	 The	 language	 of	 incivility	 and	the	British	 experience	 of	 the	world.”	 In	 Farr,	M.	 and	Guégan,	X.	(eds),	Experiencing	Imperialism:	The	British	abroad	 since	 the	 Eighteenth	 Century,	 vol.	 2.	 London:	Palgrave	Macmillan.	pp.	232-249.		Burns,	P.	R.	(2013).	MorphAdorner	v2:	A	Java	library	for	the	morphological	adornment	of	English	language	texts.	Evanston,	 IL.	 Northwestern	 University.	 http://mor-phadorner.northwestern.edu/morphadorner/down-load/morphadorner.pdf.	(last	accessed	on	31st	March,	2017).		Diller,	H-J.	 (2014).	Words	 for	Feelings.	Anglistische	For-schungen	 vol.	 446.	 Heidelberg:	 Universitätsverlag	Winter		Fitzmaurice,	 S.,	 Robinson,	 J.,	 Alexander,	 M.,	 Hine,	 I.,	Mehl,	 S.	 and	Dallachy,	 F.	 (forthcoming).	 “Linguistic	DNA:	Investigating	conceptual	change	in	early	Modern	English	discourse.”	Studia	Neophilologica.		Kay,	C.,	Roberts,	 J.,	Samuels,	M.,	Wotherspoon,	 I.	and	Alexander,	M.	(eds)	(2016).	The	Historical	Thesaurus	of	English,	version	4.2.	Glasgow:	University	of	Glasgow.	http://historicalthesaurus.arts.gla.ac.uk/.			

The Seven Words of the Virgin: Identifying Change in the Discourse Context of the Concept of Virginity in Early Modern English

Enlighten: Publications

http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/154652/13/154652.pdf

The Seven Words of the Virgin: Identifying Change in the Discourse Context of the Concept of Virginity in Early Modern English

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Enlighten

Enlighten: Publications