Readability testing

Richmond richmondmathewson at gmail.com
Mon Dec 31 10:16:17 EST 2012


On 12/31/2012 03:51 PM, Mike Bonner wrote:
> http://www.howmanysyllables.com/howtocountsyllables.html  A starting point
> for syllable counting perhaps.

Certainly a start . . .

But how a computer would:

"Usually divide before a single consonant.
o/pen, i/tem, e/vil, re/port.
The only exceptions are those times when the first syllable has an 
obvious short sound, as in "cab/in"."

be able to work out when a vowel is pronounced as "an obvious short 
sound" or not escapes me.

The "problem" about all languages is that they are never written 
phonetically (with the possible exception of
language written in the IPA, which bravely attempts to represent each 
sound with a single symbol - of course
once one gets into supra-segmentalism one is in a hell only enjoyed by 
really 'kinky' linguists) and, as such,
a computer cannot do that sort of thing as it is incapable of making a 
subjective judgement call . . .

. . . arguably what will always prevent computers being able to imitate 
human reasoning completely is
just that; a computer cannot ascribe subjective value (good, bad) to 
something.

It would be interesting to know how the Java mages worked out how to 
count syllables, and how accurate that is.

>
>
> On Mon, Dec 31, 2012 at 5:16 AM, Richmond <richmondmathewson at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Here's a whole new can of worms:
>>
>> http://www.editcentral.com/**gwt1/EditCentral.html<http://www.editcentral.com/gwt1/EditCentral.html>
>>
>> "wordCount is the number of words in the text.
>> sentenceCount is the number of sentences in the text.
>> syllableCount is the number of syllables in the text.
>> letterNumberCount is the number of letters and numbers in the text.
>> complexCount is the number of words of three or more syllables in the
>> text."
>>
>> the necessary formula for all the different readibility methods are given,
>> in Java, on the webpage,
>> but they presuppose wordCount, snetenceCount and so on.
>>
>> Now, while one can effect a wordCount with no problem at all in Livecode,
>>
>> and one can effect a sentenceCount by looking at strings ending in . ! ?
>>
>> and one can effect letterCount.
>>
>> I am completely unsure how one would manage a syllableCount.
>>
>> Something to chew over as we go into the New Year!
>>
>> Richmond.
>>
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