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Dissertation Information for Ling Hwey Jeng

NAME:
- Ling Hwey Jeng

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science

SCHOOL:
- University of Texas, Austin (USA) (1987)

ADVISORS:
- Francis L. Miksa

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Ronald E. Wyllys
- Billie Grace Herring
- Robert F. Simmons
- E. Glynn Harmon

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: The title page as the source of information for bibliographic description: An analysis of its visual and linguistic characteristics

Abstract: The objective is to study the title page as a phenomenon, and analyze bibliographic data on the title page as a natural language artifact. Bibliographic data are examined as a form of written language, having both visual and linguistic characteristics.

Data analysis consists of two parts: visual objects and linguistic elements. The former deals with characteristics of individual bibliographic elements and those of separations between elements. Visual properties identified include both primitives and coordinates. Primitives are those existing within each bibliographic element. Coordinates are those following a bibliographic element and serve to distinguish it from others. A separation is identified by changes in primitives or the existence of coordinates between two elements. The latter examines both the lexicographical characteristics of words on title pages, and the phrase grammar patterns. Lexical analysis includes the distribution of syntactic classes, use of function words and frequent words, semantic classes for nouns, and proper names on the title pages as well as general characteristics of the lexicon in terms of its stability, specificity and concentration.

Results confirm the hypothesis that the title page is a collection of language representations, each having its own visual and linguistic characteristics. The title page normally consists of Title Proper, Author, and Publisher. Two most important visual properties that constitute a separation between two bibliographic elements are change in typesize and the existence of space. The language of title pages in general is stabilized and very specific and concentrated. Nouns and proper names are two major syntactic classes for the lexicon. Lexicographical characteristics in each bibliographic element characterize the element and distinguish it from others. Commas and periods are used more than other punctuation marks. Noun phrases dominate phrase patterns of bibliographic elements. And the phrase patterns can be analyzed by using a limited set of grammar.

The conclusion is a frame structural view of the title page in terms of the inclusion of bibliographic elements, and the propositional properties. This provides the potential knowledge for an expert system for descriptive cataloging, and a conceptual framework for future investigations of cataloging standards and codes.

MPACT Scores for Ling Hwey Jeng

A = 1
C = 1
A+C = 2
T = 1
G = 1
W = 1
TD = 1
TA = 0
calculated 2008-01-31 06:25:23

Advisors and Advisees Graph