A New Tool for Discourse Analysis: The Vocabulary-Management Profile

Abstract

A computer is used to count the number of new vocabulary words introduced into a text over a moving interval thirty-five words long. The number of new words in each successive interval is plotted at the midpoint of the interval, generating a curve called the Vocabulary-Management Profile (VMP). Analysis of VMPs for passages from James Joyce and George Orwell illustrates that clearcut peaks and valleys on VMPs correlate closely with constituent boundaries and information flow in discourse. VMPs for these authors show surprisingly regular alternations between peaks and valleys (that is. between new and repeated vocabulary), reflecting two competing principles that necessarily underlie all normal discourse: innovation and coherence.