refused.science/Integer-based nomenclature for the ecosystem of lexically repetitive expressions in complete works of William Shakespeare

1684491422 / AE530519 , DOI: 10.25624/kuenste-1331
Fulltext: /data/818.repetitive_expressions_in_works_of_william_shakespeare.pdf

Abstract:Repetition of morphological or lexical units is an established technique able to reinforce the impact of one’s argument upon the audience. Rhetoric tradition has canonized dozens of repetition-involving schemata as figures of speech. Our article shows a way how hitherto ignored repetition-involving schemata can be identified. It shows that certain classes of repetitive figures can be represented in terms of specific sequences of integer numbers and vice versa, how specific sets of integer numbers can be translated into sets of regexes able to match repetition-involving expressions. A "Shakespeare number" S is simply defined as an integer with at least one repeated digit in which no digit bigger than X can occur if ever a digit X had not yet occurred in S’s decimal representation. Hence, 121 is a Shakespeare number, while 123 or 211 are not. A set of "entangled numbers" is subsequently defined as a subset of "Shakespeare numbers" with an additional property that all digits which occur in them are repeated at least twice in the decimal representation of the number. Thus, a 1212 is an entangled number while 1211 is not. A complete set E of entangled numbers of maximal length of 10 digits is subsequently generated and every member of E is translated into a regex. Each regex is subsequently exposed to all utterances in all works of William Shakespeare, allowing us to pinpoint 3367 instances of 172 distinct E-schemata. This nomenclature may allow scholars to lead a discussion about schemata which have escaped the attention of classical interpretators.