Modern Attribution Methods
Barry R. Clarke · 2019
The Zeta and Delta methods of stylometry are examined in detail to highlight the weakness of the single-contributor assumption. A segment of text is taken and a certain linguistic feature is counted, such as a predetermined set of words, word endings, or the positions of stressed syllables. The Zeta test has been applied to 3 Henry VI to discover whether or not Greene or Marlowe, or one of several others, exclusively had a hand in it. The Delta test, in the form that John Burrows developed it, relies on a database of 58 plays that are assumed to be single-authored and well-attributed. If one focuses instead on phrases and collocations in a target text, they can be examined independently of each other, without the expedient assumption of uncorrupted text in a single hand.