Word counts by region, time-period, gender and dialect area

Word counts complementing those provided in the auxiliary files Data arranged by time and space, with word counts and CSC informants in the Manual to the Corpus of Scottish Correspondence.

The first set of word counts (Tables 1-4) is based on a distribution of areas into North, North-East, Central, South-East and South-West (alternative A) and includes word counts

by region,
by region and century,
of the proportion of text by female writers by region and century and
by county, time-period and gender.

In alternative B (Tables 5-6), the dialect areas (North, North-East, East Mid, West Mid, South Mid and Southern Scots) have been formed by adapting the compilation principles of the Scottish National Dictionary (SND).

Finally, the total number of words per period and gender are shown in Table 7.

Alternative A:
Distribution of areas into North, North-East, Central, South-East and South-West

Word count by region

Categories 'Court', 'Professional', 'Unlocalized' excluded. The parameter value South-West in the files refers to Dumfries and Galloway.

Table 1. Word count by region.

Region	word count
North-East (Aberdeen, Angus)	42641	17 %
North (Ross, Sutherland)	42679	17 %
Central (Perthshire, Lanarkshire)	41130	17 %
South-East (Fife, Lothian, Stirlingshire, Borders)	88349	36 %
South-West (Ayrshire, Argyllshire, South-West)	31137	13 %

Word count by region.

Figure 1. Word count by region.

Word count by region and century

Categories 'Court', 'Professional', 'Unlocalized' excluded.

Table 2. Word count by region and century.

Region	16th century	17th century
South-West (Ayrshire, Argyllshire, South-West)	6333	24804
South-East (Fife, Lothian, Stirlingshire, Borders)	26842	61507
Central (Perthshire, Lanarkshire)	7661	33469
North (Ross, Sutherland)	0	42679
North-East (Aberdeen, Angus)	11332	31309

Word count by region and century.

Figure 2. Word count by region and century.

Proportion of text by female writers by region and century

Categories 'Court', 'Professional', 'Unlocalized' excluded.

Table 3. Proportion of text by female writers.

Region	16th century	17th century
North-East (Aberdeen, Angus)	3 %	24 %
North (Ross, Sutherland)	0 %	0 %
Central (Perthshire, Lanarkshire)	0 %	45 %
South-East (Fife, Lothian, Stirlingshire, Borders)	6 %	36 %
South-West (Ayrshire, Argyllshire, South-West)	0 %	12 %

Proportion of text by female writers by region and century.

Figure 3. Proportion of text by female writers by region and century.

Word counts by county, time-period and gender

Word counts of the categories of ‘Court’, ‘Professional’ and ‘Unlocalised’ included.

Table 4. Word count by county, time-period and gender.

	1500-1549		1550-1599		1600-1649		1650-1715
	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Total
Aberdeenshire	6902	248	2503	0	12458	4129	4598	2698	33536
Angus	258	0	1293	128	4894	620	1912	0	9105
Argyllshire	0	0	0	0	5111	158	1587	1533	8389
Ayrshire	2616	0	1641	0	7569	0	6405	905	19136
Borders	1100	1281	0	0	3663	3291	0	0	9335
Court	1392	0	0	665	0	0	0	0	2057
Fife	902	0	1442	0	7506	0	6204	6967	23021
Lanarkshire	689	0	522	0	4067	2056	1548	7393	16275
Lothian	20992	384	0	0	4974	9693	0	0	36043
Perthshire	5508	0	942	0	11156	5545	1704	0	24855
Ross	0	0	0	0	259	514	4061	309	5143
South-West	1890	0	186	0	1117	222	0	197	3612
Stirlingshire	251	0	490	0	17127	1902	180	0	19950
Sutherland	0	0	0	0	21613	0	15923	0	37536
Professional	1994	0	3386	0	0	0	0	0	5380
Unlocalised	2949	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2949
Total	47443	1913	12405	793	101514	28130	44122	20002	256322
Total/period		49356		13198		129644		64124	256322
Percentage		19 %		5 %		51 %		25 %	100 %
Total/century				62554				193768	256322
Percentage				24 %				76 %	100 %

Alternative B:
Distribution of areas into North, North-East, East Mid, West Mid, South Mid and Southern Scots

Word count by dialect areas

Dialect areas formed by adapting the compilation principles of the Scottish National Dictionary (SND). Categories 'Court', 'Professional', 'Unlocalized' excluded.

Table 5. Word count by dialect areas.

	North	North-East	East Mid	West Mid	South Mid	Southern	Total
1500-1549	0	7150	28295	3305	1890	2381	43021
1550-1599	0	2503	4295	2163	186	0	9147
1600-1649	22386	16587	63417	18961	1339	6954	129644
1650-1715	20293	7296	16967	19371	197	0	64124
Total	42679	33536	112974	43800	3612	9335	245936

Word count by dialect areas.

Figure 4. Word count by dialect areas.

Table 6. Word count by dialect areas and gender.

	North		North-East		East Mid		West Mid		South Mid		Southern		Total
	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female
1500-1549	0	0	6902	248	27911	384	3305	0	1890	0	1100	1281	43021
1550-1599	0	0	2503	0	4167	128	2163	0	186	0	0	0	9147
1600-1649	21872	514	12458	4129	45657	17760	16747	2214	1117	222	3663	3291	129644
1650-1715	19984	309	4598	2698	10000	6967	9540	9831	0	197	0	0	64124
Total	41856	823	26461	7075	87735	25239	31755	12045	3193	419	4763	4572	245936
Total M+F		42679		33536		112974		43800		3612		9335	245936

Total number of words per period and gender

Table 7. & Figure 5. Total number of words per period and gender.

Period	Male	Female	Total
1500-1549	47443	1913	49356
1550-1599	12405	793	13198
1600-1649	101514	28130	129644
1650-1715	44122	20002	64124
Total	205484	50838	256322

Corpus of Scottish Correspondence