Howe, holds that sidney rigdon concocted the book of mormon by plagiarizing a novel written by one solomon spaulding, then used joseph. This volume features articles on hebraisms and chiasmus in the book of mormon, as well as articles discussing emendation of the text, naturalistic assumptions, wordprint analyses, variations between copies of the first edition, and more. Spaldingrigdon theory of book of mormon authorship. The wordprint analysis by wayne larson and alvin rencher questions once again the theory that sidney rigdon or solomon spaulding authored the book of mormon pp. However, does anyone have additional thoughts on the 1982 byu study. Among the antibook of mormon references, likely the most extensive work provoked by the larsenrencherlayton study was an attempt at a wordprint measurement by ernest h. Wordprint analysis has developed dramatically over the last 14 years and although it is still developing, it is now used to unravel many classical authorship controversies. Wordprint studies of the book of mormon fairmormon. Stylometry is a method of statistical analysis used to. The book of mormon also contains work written by more than one author. The works of tolkien and the book of mormon have been compared in a variety of ways by multiple authors and researchers, but none have looked specifically at the unusual names found within both.
Missionary explains book of mormon wordprint analysis story and photo by mike foley. For the cluster analysis of 24 book of mormon authors and the 9 19th century author texts, they merged all of the texts for a given author, and they used 9 unknown words for distance calculations. Then, for the next question is how did you gain a testimony of the book of mormon and joseph smith as gods prophet most christians have no idea w. Having first been developed in the 1850s, stylometry seeks to find the wordprint of a text. In this article, larsen and rencher report their findings from a statistical analysis of style in the book of mormon. Matt roper and paul fields intrigued us with their stylometry study. Book of mormon authorship new light on ancient origins.
Book of mormon wordprints reexamined a look at the byu study. For details on what these authors did and what serious errors affect their work, and for the latest contribution on wordprint analysis, see stylometric analyses of the book of mormon. As john hilton put the matter, if wordprinting is a valid technique, then this analysis suggests that it is statistically indefensible to claim that joseph, oliver, or solomon spaulding wrote the 30,000 words in the book of mormon attributed to nephi and alma. In wordprint studies related to the book of mormon, hilton has analyzed the major authors and come up with some amazing insights. Wordprint analysis and the book of mormon deseret news.
Book of mormon authorship, in book of mormon authorship revisited. Conflicting results of computer analyses of the book of mormon. The bom prophets mormon, moroni, and nephi transform their own voice across these voices from n to s and in mormons case even adding l, in a way that. Joseph smiths translation of the book of mormon was a literal translation.
One of the issues that swirls around discussions of book of mormon geography is the rightful place the editorials in the 1842 times and seasons must. Published originally in the byuhawaii newsroom, april 17, 2007 elder gale bryce pictured at right, a volunteer service missionary at the polynesian cultural center, explained in the heavily attended april 17. They compared twentyfour book of mormon authors each having at least 1,000 words to each other, and concluded on the basis of three separate statistical tests that these authors were distinct from each other and oliver cowdery, joseph smith, jr. But for the latest on wordprint analysis, see stylometric analyses of the book of mormon. Wordprint studies are one tool used in author attribution research, but do authors use specific sounds more than others consciously or subconsciously when selecting or inventing names. Comparing book of mormon names with those found in j.
Wordprint analysis and joseph smiths role as editor of. Please note that mormon and helamans word clusters matched despite being very very different individuals, seperated by 300 years as well as. Modern computers have given birth to a new science of analyzing word patterns in documents whose authorship is disputed. Is it possible that a single author wrote the book of mormon. Hilton, on verifying wordprint studies, in book of mormon authorship revisited, 241. Book of mormon computer studies are fascinating to me, and i believe in the future they will be key to understanding book of mormon origins. These results yield strong statistical evidence that the wordprints of joseph smith, oliver cowdery, and solomon spaulding are not measurable in the book of mormon. Ive taken a bit on an interest in wordprint studies. Mormon did not paraphrase, he quoted directly from the records he had in his possession. Chiasmus and book of mormon textual studies deseret book. Using wordprint analysis, a method of determining idiosyncratic subconscious patterns in the writings of any author, they conclude that 1 the book of mormon was written by many authors, and that 2 no book of mormon passages resemble the writing of any of the.
Through computer based statistical analysis a unique wordprint can be developed for each author. Check jeff lindsays response here, which notes some benefits and drawbacks to the new wordprint analysis. Readers are cautioned that the results of wordprint analysis of the book of mormon are only as reliable as they would be for other written works, and that the jury. In every set comparing the book of mormon texts against these three writers, at least seven and often many more rejections were measured.
Religious studies center, brigham young university, 1982, 163. Wordprint analysis had been used to evaluate the authorship. Here is what will probably be the first of several book of mormon wordprint analysis posts, based on a database i put together and curiosity ive had for many years about voices in the book of mormon. I think the question can be turned to how did you gain a testimony of the bible and christianity. Book of mormon wordprint studies have been used by both critics and apologists to provide valuable insights into the text of the bom. Modern word print analysis mesoamerican antiquities. The book of mormon was not an ordinary translation. The theory first appeared in print in the book mormonism unvailed, published in 1834 by e. Wordprint analysis is a statistical analysis of the frequency of noncontext words we all use in writing. No single individual, modern or ancient, could have written the book of mormon. In our analysis we leave these sections in as an additional test of our methodology. Statistical analysis and using wordprint to take into account subtle authoring differences of the 21 contributing authors prove there were multiple writers to the book of mormon countering. Thus moroni will speak with a different wordprint to alma and nephi will be different to mormon.
The complicated production of the book of mormon, from its original writing by nephi, mormon, moroni, and others to its most recent editings and printings, is a human process that has been well described. The first was whether the wordprints of authors within the book of mormon differ. Two tests which deal with writing styles have produced some largely ignored results which our critics cannot explain. Fields roper book of mormon wordprint study general. The abundance of skeptical theories about who wrote the book of mormon has led many scholars to seek scientific data to discover the answer. An analysis of wordprints, in book of mormon authorship. A stylometric analysis of mormon scripture and related texts d. Using computers for statistical analysis, they produced a wordprint like a fingerprint not only for book of mormon authors but for the pauline epistles and the book of isaiah, which helps to. Ive seen tbms reference this study, numerous times, to argue that joseph smith couldnt have written the book of mormon. What can stylometry tell us about book of mormon authorship. Book of mormon wordprint analysis three voice hypothesis. Computational stylistics is based on the premise that all authors exhibit subtle, quantifiable stylistic traits that are equivalent to a litereray fingerprint, or wordprint.
Book of mormon wordprints reexamined a look at the byu. Multiple isaiah theory and stylometry search isaiah. It had been discovered that like fingerprints, wordprints can be used to assess authorship of a written work. Elder gale bryce, a volunteer service missionary at the polynesian cultural center, explained in the heavily attended april 17 school of computing inform meeting how two former colleagues used wordprint statistical analyses to authenticate book of mormon authorship. Word print analysis on the book of mormon update on my work. The theory is that a spalding manuscript was stolen by sidney rigdon, who used it in collusion with joseph smith. Serious study of the book of mormon by latterday saints is flourishing today as never before. At least three computer analyses have been completed to date in an effort to determine who wrote the book of mormon, and whether it was a single individual or a group. Wordprint analysis and joseph smiths role as editor of the times and seasons this article first appeared in insights magazine, a publication of the maxwell institute, vol. See hilton, on verifying wordprint studies, in book of mormon authorship revisited, 236. The term wordprint was coined by the larsen group to represent patterns.
The initial book of mormon wordprint studies were carried out by larsen, rencher, and layton. Using wordprint analysis, a method of determining idiosyncratic subconscious patterns in the writings of any author, they conclude that 1 the book of mormon was written by many authors, and that 2 no book of mormon passages resemble the writing of any of the commonly. A number of scientific tests have been devised to examine the authenticity of the book of mormon. Its interesting to me that wordprint analysis and wordprint are almost exclusively reserved for book of mormon studies. In a recent article appearing in byu studies, 1 wayne larsen, alvin rencher, and tim layton, specialists in statistics at brigham young university, used some highly sophisticated, computerized statistical techniques to examine wordprints of authors in the book of mormon. The second was a report on a wordprint analysis of the book of mormon. Here is what will probably be the first of several book of mormon wordprint analysis posts, based on a database i put together and curiosity ive. You dont find those terms associated with any studies from the aml. The spaldingrigdon theory of book of mormon authorship is the theory that the book of mormon was plagiarized in part from an unpublished manuscript written by solomon spalding.
This study used a generalized discriminant analysis which is an extension of the linear discriminant analysis used in the larsen study. By wordprint analysis, it is now possible with a high degree of certainty to tell which suspected authors. I saw a video that came from the book of mormon central team that showed a chart from the fields roper book of mormon wordprint study project. Book of mormon wordprint analysis three voice hypothesis posted by churchistrue this is an introduction to a series of posts that i will be making to define the three voice hypothesis for book of mormon authorship attribution, developed from analyzing book of mormon wordprint data. How did you gain a testimony of the book of mormon and the. At the fair conference, statistical analyst paul fields presented an assessment of one of the latest attempts to validate the spauldingrigdon theory, a stylometric, or wordprint, analysis of the book of mormon. Bruce schaalje, matthew roper, and paul fields, journal of the book of mormon and other restoration scripture, vol. Wordprints and the book of mormon book of mormon central.
I guess the study is not published yet, but they are presenting on this in a few months. By wordprint analysis, it is now possible with a high degree of certainty to tell which suspected authors did not write a given work. A new wordprint study on the book of mormon breathes new life to a longchallenged theory for book of mormon authorship, the theory that its real author was solomon spalding secretly assisted by sidney rigdon. Various authors in the book of mormon have distinctive styles of wordprints. Theres no way that you can emulate the wordprint of another individual. Three scholars from stanford recently completed another wordprint analysis of the book of mormon, the newest in a series of studies completed by various researchers over the past few decades. Of course, wordprint analysis, while it can measure certain facts objectively, cannot prove the holiness of the book of mormon. This compilation of groundbreaking book of mormon articles is selected from over fifty years of lds scholarship published by byu studies.
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