Title |
A Practical Approach to Language Complexity: A Wikipedia Case Study
|
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Published in |
PLOS ONE, November 2012
|
DOI | 10.1371/journal.pone.0048386 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Taha Yasseri, András Kornai, János Kertész |
Abstract |
In this paper we present statistical analysis of English texts from Wikipedia. We try to address the issue of language complexity empirically by comparing the simple English Wikipedia (Simple) to comparable samples of the main English Wikipedia (Main). Simple is supposed to use a more simplified language with a limited vocabulary, and editors are explicitly requested to follow this guideline, yet in practice the vocabulary richness of both samples are at the same level. Detailed analysis of longer units (n-grams of words and part of speech tags) shows that the language of Simple is less complex than that of Main primarily due to the use of shorter sentences, as opposed to drastically simplified syntax or vocabulary. Comparing the two language varieties by the Gunning readability index supports this conclusion. We also report on the topical dependence of language complexity, that is, that the language is more advanced in conceptual articles compared to person-based (biographical) and object-based articles. Finally, we investigate the relation between conflict and language complexity by analyzing the content of the talk pages associated to controversial and peacefully developing articles, concluding that controversy has the effect of reducing language complexity. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United States | 5 | 19% |
Indonesia | 2 | 8% |
India | 2 | 8% |
Comoros | 1 | 4% |
Italy | 1 | 4% |
Ireland | 1 | 4% |
Sweden | 1 | 4% |
Mexico | 1 | 4% |
Portugal | 1 | 4% |
Other | 4 | 15% |
Unknown | 7 | 27% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Members of the public | 19 | 73% |
Scientists | 6 | 23% |
Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 1 | 4% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United States | 4 | 5% |
Netherlands | 2 | 3% |
United Kingdom | 2 | 3% |
Germany | 1 | 1% |
Brazil | 1 | 1% |
Canada | 1 | 1% |
Italy | 1 | 1% |
Japan | 1 | 1% |
Spain | 1 | 1% |
Other | 2 | 3% |
Unknown | 63 | 80% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Master | 16 | 20% |
Researcher | 15 | 19% |
Student > Ph. D. Student | 12 | 15% |
Other | 6 | 8% |
Student > Doctoral Student | 5 | 6% |
Other | 16 | 20% |
Unknown | 9 | 11% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Computer Science | 20 | 25% |
Linguistics | 13 | 16% |
Physics and Astronomy | 10 | 13% |
Social Sciences | 7 | 9% |
Medicine and Dentistry | 4 | 5% |
Other | 16 | 20% |
Unknown | 9 | 11% |