Introduction
The type-token ratio (TTR) is a measure of lexical diversity that has been widely used to assess the complexity of written language. It is calculated as the ratio of the total number of unique words (types) to the total number of words (tokens) in a text. A higher TTR typically indicates a higher degree of lexical diversity, as a text with a higher number of unique words will usually contain more complex language than a text with a lower number of unique words.
Description
The TTR is calculated by dividing the total number of unique words (types) by the total number of words (tokens) in a text. For example, in a text with 10 words, if there are 4 unique words (types) and 6 repeated words (tokens), then the TTR would be 0.4. The TTR is a simple measure of lexical diversity that is often used to compare the complexity of different texts.
Application
The TTR has been widely used to assess the complexity of written language, particularly in educational contexts. It has been used to measure the complexity of language used by students in their writing assignments, as well as to compare the complexity of different texts. It has also been used to compare the complexity of language used by different authors, as well as to compare texts written in different languages.
Conclusion
The type-token ratio (TTR) is a simple measure of lexical diversity that has been widely used to assess the complexity of written language. It is calculated as the ratio of the total number of unique words (types) to the total number of words (tokens) in a text, and a higher TTR typically indicates a higher degree of lexical diversity. The TTR has been widely used to assess the complexity of written language in educational contexts, as well as to compare the complexity of different texts and languages.
References
Aarts, S., Giegerich, H. J., & De Haan, P. (2002). English vocabulary: Structure, use, acquisition. Cambridge University Press.
Erman, B., & Warren, B. (2000). The idiom principle and the open choice principle. Text, 20(1), 29-62.
Kolacz, S. (2019). Type-token ratio: Exploring language complexity. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/type-token-ratio-1691467