Thematic concentration of a text – some aspects of Ladislav Jehlička’s authorial style Cover Image

Tematická koncentrace textu – některé aspekty autorského stylu Ladislava Jehličky
Thematic concentration of a text – some aspects of Ladislav Jehlička’s authorial style

Author(s): Radek Čech, Jana Davidová Glogarová
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies
Published by: AV ČR - Akademie věd České republiky - Ústav pro jazyk český
Keywords: anti-Semitism; Fascism; ideology; journalism; Ladislav Jehlička; nationalism; Nazism; quantitative linguistic analysis; thematic concentration of the text

Summary/Abstract: Analysis of thematic concentration is a method for the detection of thematic words and quantification of thematic concentration in a text. This method was applied to articles by the Czech Catholic writer and journalist Ladislav Jehlička from the period 1936–1942. The aim was to compare two sets of texts: texts that are considered by literary theorists to be ‘problematic’ due to their expression of extreme right-wing views, and texts that are ‘neutral’, dealing only with general social questions. We expect that, in view of the choice of theme, the ‘problematic’ texts will be more influenced by the author’s ideological stance, which in turn will be reflected in the linguistic characteristics of the texts. We then compare texts published under Jehlička’s real name with those which appeared under the pseudonym ‘Eljen’. The results reveal a surprisingly small presence of words expressing a right-wing stance or ‘problematic’ themes (e.g., fascism, Jewish) among so called thematic words as well as an independence of the thematic concentration of ideology. Finally, a non-significant difference between Jehlička’s and Eljen’s texts can be viewed as a proof of the author’s relatively stable style.

  • Issue Year: 2013
  • Issue No: 5
  • Page Range: 234-245
  • Page Count: 12
  • Language: Czech