An Analysis of the Linguistic Features of Popular Chinese Online Fantasy Novels

IF 2.1 2区心理学 Q2 PSYCHOLOGY, EDUCATIONAL Discourse Processes Pub Date : 2022-02-14 DOI:10.1080/0163853X.2022.2028432

Jian Jin, Siyun Liu

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引用次数: 2

Abstract

ABSTRACT Previous studies found that linguistic features can be used to predict the success of novels. However, which specific linguistic features better contribute to a novel’s popularity is unclear. This study addressed this issue by investigating the linguistic features of 2,008 online Chinese fantasy novels with different popularity (indicated by the Baidu Index). Specifically, word part-of-speech, personal pronouns, word complexity, and local/overall sentence semantic coherence were analyzed using a word segmentation tool (Jieba) and a latent semantic analysis software (Chinese version of Coh-Metrix). Results showed significant differences between popular and non-popular (high and low popularity) novels in the distribution of parts-of-speech, use of the second person pronoun, word complexity, and sentence semantic coherence. Moreover, the presence of the second person pronoun (“you”), local sentence semantic coherence, auxiliary words, word complexity, overall sentence semantic coherence, and adjectives better predicted the popularity of a Chinese online fantasy novel. The theoretical background and the implications of these results are detailed in the study discussion.

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中国流行网络奇幻小说的语言特征分析

以往的研究发现，语言特征可以用来预测小说的成功。然而，哪种特定的语言特征能更好地促进小说的流行尚不清楚。本研究通过调查2008年不同受欢迎程度的中国网络奇幻小说（以百度指数为指标）的语言特征来解决这一问题。具体而言，使用分词工具（Jieba）和潜在语义分析软件（Coh-Metrix中文版）分析词性、人称代词、单词复杂性和局部/整体句子语义连贯性。结果表明，通俗小说和非通俗小说（高通俗小说和低通俗小说）在词性分布、第二人称代词的使用、单词复杂性和句子语义连贯性方面存在显著差异。此外，第二人称代词（“你”）、局部句子语义连贯、助词、单词复杂性、整体句子语义连贯和形容词的存在更好地预测了中国网络奇幻小说的流行。研究讨论中详细介绍了这些结果的理论背景和含义。

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来源期刊

Discourse Processes Multiple-

CiteScore

4.30

自引率

4.50%

发文量

期刊介绍： Discourse Processes is a multidisciplinary journal providing a forum for cross-fertilization of ideas from diverse disciplines sharing a common interest in discourse--prose comprehension and recall, dialogue analysis, text grammar construction, computer simulation of natural language, cross-cultural comparisons of communicative competence, or related topics. The problems posed by multisentence contexts and the methods required to investigate them, although not always unique to discourse, are sufficiently distinct so as to require an organized mode of scientific interaction made possible through the journal.