Book of mormon wordprint analysis lds church is true blog. If the book of mormon was written by ancient authors, we should be able to see distinct writing styles among each different author. Book of mormon wordprints reexamined a look at the byu. Ive thus been a strong skeptic of wordprint studies back when they. 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.
They compared twentyfour book of mormon authors each. 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. Howe, holds that sidney rigdon concocted the book of mormon by plagiarizing a novel written by one solomon spaulding, then used joseph. Book of mormon wordprints reexamined a look at the byu study. This study of this is called analyzing word patterns, wordprinting or stylometry.
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. Can wordprinting show that different sections of the book of mormon were. At the age of 16, mormon begins an on againoff again role as leader of the nephite armies mormon 2, 12, lasting until 384ce mormon 26. Theres a lot of subjectivity to most of these studies of the book of mormon.
Book of mormon wordprint analysis posted by churchistrue 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. Wordprinting is a developing science, notwithstanding that the first written suggestions. The term wordprint was coined by the larsen group to represent patterns of word usage which authors unconsciously repeat in their writings or speeches sentence length or frequency of certain common words, for example. Wordprint studies of the book of mormon fairmormon. Barney, remains unconvinced of the validity of wordprint analysis.
The initial book of mormon wordprint studies were carried out by larsen, rencher, and layton. Hilton concluded that, if wordprinting is a valid technique, then this analysis suggests that it is statistically indefensible to claim that smith, oliver cowdery, or solomon spalding wrote the 30,000 words in the book of mormon attributed to nephi and alma. Wordprint analysis and the book of mormon deseret news. Thus, while valid and objective wordprinting is no substitute for faith, wordprinting can, nevertheless, bolster the establishment of faith by rigorously demonstrating factual information about the book. I have always felt that the basis assumptions underlying book of mormon wordprint studies are. Book of mormon wordprint studies in 2020 lds church is. Book of mormon wordprint studies have been used by both critics and apologists to provide valuable insights into the text of the bom. The understanding that the book of mormon has a divine origin is obtainable only by developing faith. Features the prophet joseph smith by alvin gittins via. By wordprint analysis, it is now possible with a high degree of certainty to tell which suspected authors did not write a given work. Modern computers have given birth to a new science of analyzing word patterns in documents whose authorship is disputed. The first was whether the wordprints of authors within the book of mormon differ significantly from one another. The need for rigorous, legitimate wordprint measurements is obvious in attempting.
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