Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Trump-Backed Tax-Cut and Spending Bill Passes US Senate

7 hours ago

Israeli Officials to Hold Ceasefire Talks in Washington Amid Military Escalation in Gaza

9 hours ago

Trump Escalates Feud With Musk, Threatens Tesla, SpaceX Support

9 hours ago

Musk Vows to Punish Lawmakers Who Back Trump’s Spending Bill

1 day ago

Fresno Man Sentenced to Nearly 6 Years for $4.2 Million Tech Startup Fraud

1 day ago

Suspect Identified in Ambush Shooting That Killed 2 Idaho Firefighters

1 day ago

Will Valadao Spoil Trump’s Plan for July 4th ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ Signing?

1 day ago

Shaver Lake and Reedley 4th of July Shows Are Wednesday. Who Else Is Celebrating?

1 day ago
Word Detectives: Science May Help Finger Opinion Columnist
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 7 years ago on
September 7, 2018

Share

WASHINGTON — Language detectives say the key clues to who wrote the anonymous New York Times opinion piece slamming President Donald Trump may not be the odd and glimmering “lodestar,” but the itty-bitty words that people usually read right over: “I,” “of” and “but.”

“My phone has been ringing off the hook with requests to do that analysis and I just don’t have the time.” — Patrick Juola, Duquesne University computer and language scientist
And lodestar? That could be a red herring meant to throw sleuths off track, some experts say.
Experts use a combination of language use, statistics and computer science to help figure out who wrote documents that are anonymous or possibly plagiarized. They’ve even solved crimes and historical mysteries that way. Some call the field forensic linguistics, others call it stylometry or simply doing “author attribution.”
The field is suddenly at center stage after an unidentified “senior administration official” wrote in the Times that he or she was part of a “resistance” movement working from within the administration to curb Trump’s most dangerous impulses.
“My phone has been ringing off the hook with requests to do that analysis and I just don’t have the time,” says Duquesne University computer and language scientist Patrick Juola.

Solving Murders by Examining Language

Robert Leonard, a Hofstra University linguistics professor who has helped solve murders by examining language, says if experts could get the right number of writing samples from officials whose identities are known, “an analysis could certainly be done.”

“Language is a set of choices. What to say, how to say and when to say it. And there’s a lot of different options.”Patrick Juola, Duquesne University computer and language scientist
One political scientist figures there are about 50 people in the Trump administration who fit the Times’ description as a senior administration official and could be the author. The key would be to look at how they write, the words they use, what words they put next to each other, spelling, punctuation and even tenses, experts say.
“Language is a set of choices. What to say, how to say and when to say it,” Juola says. “And there’s a lot of different options.”
One of the favorite techniques of Juola and other experts is to look at what’s called “function words.” These are words people use all the time but that are hard to define because they more provide function than meaning. Some examples are “of,” ”with,” ”the,” ”a,” ”over” and “and.”

Using Words in the Same Frequency

“We all use them but we don’t use them in the same way,” Juola says. “We don’t use them in the same frequency.” Same goes with apostrophes and other punctuation.
For example, do you say “different from” or “different than?” asks computer science and data expert Shlomo Argamon of the Illinois Institute of Technology.
Women tend to use first- and second-person pronouns more — “I,” ”me” and “you” — and more present tense, Argamon says. Men use “the,” ”of,” ”this” and “that” more often, he says.
There’s even a website that is based on Argamon’s research that tries to determine whether a writer is male or female: http://hackerfactor.com/GenderGuesser.php. Argamon calls it just a toy and the site says isn’t perfect. In fact, several female writers at The Associated Press were called male, as was the writer of the Times’ opinion piece
“You look for clues and you try to assess the usefulness of those clues,” Argamon says. But he is less optimistic that the Trump opinion piece case will be cracked for various reasons, including the New York Times’ editing for style and possible efforts to fool language detectives with words that someone else likes to use such as “lodestar.” Mostly, he’s pessimistic because to do a proper comparison, samples from all suspects have to be gathered and have to be similar, such as all opinion columns as opposed to novels, speeches or magazine stories.

Trying to Throw off Investigators With Words

Rachel Greenstadt at Drexel University studies when people try to throw off investigators with words they don’t normally use or purposeful bad spellings. She says her first instinct is that the word “lodestar” — one Vice President Mike Pence has used several times — is “a red herring.” It seems too deliberate.
Greenstadt says language analysis “could kind of contribute to the picture” of who wrote the Times’ opinion pieces, but she adds “by itself, I’d be concerned to use it.”
Still, with the right conditions words matter.
Juola testified in about 15 trials and handled even more cases that never made it to court. His biggest case was in 2013, when a British newspaper got a tip that the book “The Cuckoo’s Calling” by Robert Galbraith was really written by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling. In about an hour, Juola fed two Rowling books, “The Cuckoo’s Calling” and six other novels into his computer, analyzed the language patterns with four different systems and concluded that Rowling did it.
A couple of days later, Rowling confessed.
It was far from the first time that language use fingered the real culprit. The Unabomber’s brother identified him because of of his distinctive writing style. Field pioneers helped find a kidnapper who used the unique term “devil strip” for the grassy area between the sidewalk and road. The phrase is only used in parts of Ohio.

Words Are Poker Tells

Even in politics, words are poker tells. In 1996, the novel “Primary Colors” about a Clintonesque presidential candidate set Washington abuzz trying to figure out who was the anonymous author. An analysis by a Vassar professor and other work pointed to Newsweek’s Joe Klein and he finally admitted it.

“It’s not quite DNA. It’s actually considered by some scientists to be considered the second-most accurate form of forensic identification we have because it is so good.” — Patrick Juola, Duquesne University computer and language scientist
But the literary sleuthing goes back to the founding of the republic. Historians had a hard time figuring out which specific Federalist Papers were written by Alexander Hamilton and which were by James Madison. A 1963 statistical analysis figured it out: One of the many clues came down to usage of the words “while” and “whilst.” Madison used “whilst”; Hamilton preferred “while.”
Juola says experts in the field can generally tell introverts from extroverts, men from women, education level, age, location, almost everything but astrological sign.
“The science is very good,” Juola said. “It’s not quite DNA. It’s actually considered by some scientists to be considered the second-most accurate form of forensic identification we have because it is so good.”

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Fresno County Man Arrested for Suspected Arson Hours After Separate Wildfire

DON'T MISS

New California Environmental Rollbacks Could Boost Housing Projects in Fresno

DON'T MISS

Iran Made Preparations to Mine the Strait of Hormuz, US Sources Say

DON'T MISS

Fresno Unified’s Embattled Nikki Henry Exits. ‘I Own My Mistake. I Won’t Let It Own Me.’

DON'T MISS

Trump Floats Daughter-in-Law Lara Trump for Senate Run in North Carolina

DON'T MISS

Google Hit With $314 Million US Verdict in Cellular Data Class Action

DON'T MISS

Tulare County Wildfire Prompts Advisory in Three Rivers Area

DON'T MISS

O’Brien Launches Fresno County Schools Chief Campaign by Handing Out ‘Homework’

DON'T MISS

Trump Says US Could Reach Trade Deal With India, Casts Doubt on Deal With Japan

DON'T MISS

Jury Reaches Verdict on Some Counts at Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ Sex Trafficking Trial

UP NEXT

Suspect Identified in Ambush Shooting That Killed 2 Idaho Firefighters

UP NEXT

US Supreme Court Lets Parents Take Kids Out of Classes With LGBT Storybooks

UP NEXT

Bill Moyers, Broadcaster and LBJ’s White House Press Secretary, Dies at 91

UP NEXT

Tesla Executive, Elon Musk Confidant Leaves EV Maker, Bloomberg News Reports

UP NEXT

How a Birthday Boat Ride on Lake Tahoe Turned Tragic

UP NEXT

Cuomo Concedes to Mamdani in New York City Democratic Mayoral Contest

UP NEXT

Mamdani Holds Lead Over Cuomo in Democratic Primary for NYC Mayor

UP NEXT

Clovis Man Sentenced to 8 Years in Federal Prison in Deadly Fentanyl Case

UP NEXT

Victims Identified as Death Toll Climbs to 8 in Lake Tahoe Boating Tragedy

UP NEXT

Florida to Build ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Detention Center for Migrants in Everglades

Fresno Unified’s Embattled Nikki Henry Exits. ‘I Own My Mistake. I Won’t Let It Own Me.’

54 minutes ago

Trump Floats Daughter-in-Law Lara Trump for Senate Run in North Carolina

56 minutes ago

Google Hit With $314 Million US Verdict in Cellular Data Class Action

2 hours ago

Tulare County Wildfire Prompts Advisory in Three Rivers Area

2 hours ago

O’Brien Launches Fresno County Schools Chief Campaign by Handing Out ‘Homework’

2 hours ago

Trump Says US Could Reach Trade Deal With India, Casts Doubt on Deal With Japan

2 hours ago

Jury Reaches Verdict on Some Counts at Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ Sex Trafficking Trial

2 hours ago

How Wimbledon Is Tackling Its Hottest Opening on Record

3 hours ago

Tulare County Gang Robber Sentenced to Life in Prison for Attempted Murder of Police Officer

3 hours ago

The Chainsmokers to Headline Dog Daze Festival at Chukchansi Park

3 hours ago

Fresno County Man Arrested for Suspected Arson Hours After Separate Wildfire

A man was arrested Sunday on suspicion of starting a wildfire in rural Madera County just hours after crews responded to a separate nearby b...

13 minutes ago

Abel Joel Garcia Zarate, 39, of Biola, was arrested Sunday, June, 30, 2025, in Madera County on suspicion of starting a wildfire just hours after crews responded to a separate blaze sparked by farm equipment. (Madera County SO)
13 minutes ago

Fresno County Man Arrested for Suspected Arson Hours After Separate Wildfire

32 minutes ago

New California Environmental Rollbacks Could Boost Housing Projects in Fresno

An aerial view of the Iranian shores and the island of Qeshm in the strait of Hormuz, December 10, 2023. REUTERSStringerFile Photo
53 minutes ago

Iran Made Preparations to Mine the Strait of Hormuz, US Sources Say

54 minutes ago

Fresno Unified’s Embattled Nikki Henry Exits. ‘I Own My Mistake. I Won’t Let It Own Me.’

Lara Trump looks on during Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump's rally, at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., November 6, 2024. (Reuters File)
56 minutes ago

Trump Floats Daughter-in-Law Lara Trump for Senate Run in North Carolina

A Google logo is seen at a company research facility in Mountain View, California, U.S., May 13, 2025. (Reuters File)
2 hours ago

Google Hit With $314 Million US Verdict in Cellular Data Class Action

Tulare County firefighters are actively battling a wildfire Tuesday, July 1, 2025, near North Fork Road in Three Rivers, prompting a “Ready” advisory but no evacuation order. (Tulare County FD)
2 hours ago

Tulare County Wildfire Prompts Advisory in Three Rivers Area

2 hours ago

O’Brien Launches Fresno County Schools Chief Campaign by Handing Out ‘Homework’

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend