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Article published In: Applied Narratology
Edited by Sjoerd-Jeroen Moenandar, Laura Karttunen and Anna Ovaska
[Narrative Inquiry 34:2] 2024
► pp. 335–363

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Computational recognition of narratives

Applying narratological definitions to the analysis of political language use

ORCiD logo with link | Tampere University | University of Tennessee
ORCiD logo with link | Tampere University
 | Tampere University
ORCiD logo with link | Tampere University
ORCiD logo with link | Tampere University
ORCiD logo with link | Tampere University
ORCiD logo with link | Tampere University
ORCiD logo with link | Tampere University
Published online: 16 January 2024
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.22028.hat
Abstract
Computational recognition of narratives, if successful, would find innumerable applications with large digitized datasets. Systematic identification of narratives in the text flow could significantly contribute to such pivotal questions as where, when, and how narratives are employed. This paper discusses an approach to extract narratives from two datasets, Finnish parliamentary records (1980–2021) and oral history interviews with former Finnish MPs (1988–2018). Our study was based on an iterative approach, proceeding from original expert readings to a rule-based, computational approach that was elaborated with the help of annotated samples and annotation scheme. Annotated samples and computationally found extracts were compared, and a good correspondence was found. In this paper, we exhibit and compare the results from annotation and rule-based approach, and discuss examples of correctly and incorrectly found narrative sections. We consider that all attempts at recognizing and extracting narratives are definition dependent, and feed back to narrative theory.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Our database of parsed data and a search tool
  • Narrative definitions operationalized
  • The annotation scheme and procedure
  • Narrative detection algorithm
  • Quantitative results
  • Qualitative analysis of the results
  • Conclusion
  • References
References (35)
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2024. Analysis of Biographical Narrative Interviews: F. Schütze's Method. Visnyk V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University. Series "Sociological studies of contemporary society: methodology, theory, methods" :53 ► pp. 7 ff. DOI logo

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