This metric analyzes textual data by comparing the number of unique words (types) to the total number of words (tokens). For example, the sentence “The cat sat on the mat” contains six tokens and five types (“the,” “cat,” “sat,” “on,” “mat”). A higher proportion of types to tokens suggests greater lexical diversity, while a lower ratio may indicate repetitive vocabulary.
Lexical diversity analysis provides valuable insights into language development, authorship attribution, and stylistic variations. Historically, this analysis has been used to assess vocabulary richness in children’s speech, identify potential plagiarism, and understand an author’s characteristic writing style. It offers a quantifiable measure for comparing and contrasting different texts or the works of different authors.
