An analysis of the Word Adjacency Network method—Part 2—A true understanding of the method

Abstract

Abstract This second of a two-part examination of the Word Adjacency Network (WAN) method considers the idea behind the method, which is that authors place function words in proximity to each other in such distinctive ways that the distinctions can be used for authorship attribution. By doing control experiments, it shows that the attributions made by the method are not due to distinctive word adjacencies at all, contrary to the claim of its inventors. It shows that the method is in fact another word-counting method, the counting hidden by superfluously complicated mathematics. It concludes that the claim that the placements of function words in a text can be used for attributing its authorship remains unsubstantiated. It also demonstrates that the claimed theoretical basis for the method, that WAN are Markov chains, is false.