Text Analysis

Voyant allows us to compare the frequency of the appearance of specific terms in text, for example time, place, night, morning, and place. For instance below is shown the appearance of time, while all the other terms fit within time it doesn’t mean they necessarily correlate in text. Viewing the data in regards to how often a term shows up allows us to make inferences based on patterns appearing in the text.

The graph below represents the appearance of the term night, showing the ups and downs of the terms appearance. While by itself we can see trends in the usage of a particular word, by adding other similar terms we can compare the usage of those terms. While comparing times of days isn’t necessarily useful to make inferences about the past itself it serves as a control that demonstrates the functionality of Voyant, here we can see how these terms compare and applied to other terms trends will prop up for analysis.

The last graph, the comparison of frequency of use highlights the utility of the tool itself. Comparing all of these terms that fit into one category allows us to establish the appearance of patterns of use. In this case day, night, and morning can show us when things happen, and while that can’t tell us about thoughts and ideas it can establish the patterns of behavior, when things happened and how day, night, and morning played into the lives of those represented in the documents. The more a term appears, the more frequently events described took place during that time. Using place, the only term not related to time establishes a sort of control group, also analyzing patterns of usage but without representing any true correlation with other terms.