Models for Computer Generated Parody

This paper outlines two approaches to the construction of computer systems that generate prose in the style of a given author. The first involves using intuitive notions of stylistic trademarks to construct a grammar that characterizes a particular author—in this case, Ernest Hemingway. The second uses statistical methods for inferring a grammar from samples of an author’s work—in this instance, Thomas Hardy. The relative merits of each approach are discussed, and text generated from the resulting grammars is assessed in terms of its parodic quality. Further to its esoteric interest, a discussion of parody generation as a useful technique for measuring the success of grammatical inferencing systems is included, along with suggestions for its practical application in areas of language modeling and text compression.