By KERSTIN SMIT
Using a statistical analysis of individual writing patterns, BYU professors have determined who did not write 'Primary Colors,' an anonymous political novel about the Clinton campaign.
The novel's author has been a source of national speculation since its Feb. 1996 publication.
Joe Klein, a Newsweek columnist, had previously been identified as the most likely author by David Foster, a Vasser College professor of English.
'Our most certain result is that Klein is not the author,' said Noel B. Reynolds, professor of political science.
He said Foster's method of determining an author compared just two publications, and is based more on intuition.
'We feel he's made a mistake,' Reynolds said.
Reynolds' results compare individual, non-contextual writing patterns to those of known authors.
'We go to great pains to avoid measuring the context,' said John Hilton, adjunct professor of statistics.
The authors Reynolds chose to analyze were drawn from a survey of East Coast writers published by the Washington Post. The top five authors listed were analyzed, Reynolds said.
Sally Quinn, a novelist, had the closest wordprint analysis.
Mark Miller and Christopher Buckley, journalists, were excluded, but Lisa Grunwald, a novelist, remains a possible author, Reynolds said.
Hilton recognized most people are interested in who wrote 'Primary Colors,' but not who didn't write it. Wordprinting works by exclusion.
Wordprints are determined by looking primarily at function word patterns, such as the placement of 'and, like, of, and that' Hilton said.
Hilton analyzes each author for these patterns, then the whole pattern is analyzed using a multivariate analysis, said Bruce Schaalje, assistant professor of statistics.
Wordprint analysis is not widespread, Reynolds said.
He said about 10 percent of the world's wordprinting projects have been done at BYU.
They're always looking for more projects, he said, and 'Primary Colors' was a way of using the technology in an area of general interest.
Reynolds said wordprinting 'Primary Colors' was an easy project because it did not require original research.
He said he hasn't read 'Primary Colors' and wordprinted it at the suggestion of colleagues.
He is doing work on two other wordprint projects currently.
Wordprint analysis has been going on since 1964, when the Federalist Papers were wordprinted, Reynolds said.