1991:2 - Universitetet i Bergen

RUTH
A CONCORDANCE-BASED TEXT ENCODING
PROGRAM
Øystein Relgern
TEXT ENCODING
In many mas of research. especially in the humanities, there is a aeed
to analyse kxts. Where large and complex texts are involvcd. ane
would like to use the computer for hat purpose. Some computer analyses
can be made on the basis of the text itself, but in many cases this
pIaces too heavy a burden on the analysis 1001s - the computer programs.
E-g. a program hat wcre to rneasure the degree of irony in a Iiterary
text would have to be very intelligent indeed. The sotution to this
problem is ta code the texrs prior 10 the analysis. i.e to mark or "mgn
the various text elements relevant to the study. The codes or marks or
tags should ceniain the necessary information charocterizing the semantics
and morphopiogy of the elements.
Within the humanities the need for text encoding has received a lot
of attention lately, especially through the internationaI Text Encoding
Initiative (TE0 project. The ned for coding ariscs not enly when texts
are te be anaIysed, bur also when texts are ta be exchanged between
researchers, institutions or pmjecls. TE1 base their secommcndations on
ihc Slandard Generolired Markup Langtlage (SGML), and so the TE1
recomrnendatjons spcdfy a cornprehensive encoding of various text
features from the overal1 sfnicture down to minute details. For more
information on TE1 and SGML see the article The Text Eneoding
Iniiielive: A Progress Repon by Lou Barnord, OxFord University Cornputing
Service, in Humanistiske Data 3-90: ~he report Living with Guidelines,
from thc European TE1 Workshop in Oxford 1-2 July by Donald
Spaeth in this issue; and the forthcoming report (in Norwegian) horn
a seminar on text encoding arranged in Bergen 21-22 June by be
Norwegian Computing Centre for the Humoniries (NCCH) and Lhe
Wirigensrein Archives in Bergen.
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