Word Emotionality and the Structure of the Old Testament Book of Ruth

Abstract

Words in the World English Bible version of the book of Ruth were studied in terms of their emotional implications using the Dictionary of Affect in Language which matched 2,225 (89%) of the words. The use of extremely Passive/Unpleasant words and that of extremely Pleasant words gave evidence of a V and inverse-V structure, respectively. Ruth was gentle in tone, containing 188% of the normative proportion of Pleasant/Passive words and approximately 50% of the normative proportion of various active and unpleasant categories of words.