Type-Token Ratio (TTR) – A Measure of Lexical Diversity

The Type-Token Ratio (TTR) is a key metric in linguistic analysis used to assess lexical diversity within a text. It reflects vocabulary richness by comparing unique words to total words. This article explores TTR’s significance in language development, authorship attribution, and genre analysis. Using sliding windows on Shakespeare’s and Austen’s works, it visualises lexical variation and addresses limitations of traditional TTR. Ethical and technical implications are examined within the 3D framework—Data, Dharma, and Decisions—for more meaningful NLP evaluations.