Google Ngram Viewer, launched by Google in 2010, is an online search engine that enables users to investigate the frequency of word or phrase usage over time in millions of books published between 1500 and 2019. Using data from a vast corpus of digitized texts, the Ngram Viewer can reveal fascinating insights into linguistic, cultural, and historical trends, making it a powerful tool for academics, researchers, and anyone interested in language or social evolution. This article explores what Google Ngram Viewer is, how it works, its applications, and its limitations, providing a comprehensive overview of this intriguing digital resource.
What is Google Ngram Viewer?
Google Ngram Viewer is an interface that allows users to search for the occurrence of words or phrases in a large collection of books, spanning multiple languages and centuries. This data is visualized as a line graph, with the x-axis representing years and the y-axis showing the frequency of word usage as a percentage of all words in the corpus for a given year. The tool’s purpose is to provide a broad, quantitative overview of how certain words or phrases have trended over time, highlighting shifts in language, societal values, cultural focus, and more.
The project was initiated by Google in collaboration with Harvard University. By scanning and digitizing millions of books, the team created a dataset from which the Ngram Viewer draws its data. It currently includes over 8 million books in various languages, including English, French, Spanish, German, Russian, and Chinese, making it one of the largest publicly available linguistic datasets.
How Does Google Ngram Viewer Work?
To use Google Ngram Viewer, a user inputs a word or phrase, selects the language and the range of years, and receives a graph showing the frequency of that term over time. Users can search for single words (e.g., “democracy”) or multiple words/phrases separated by commas (e.g., “freedom, justice, equality”). Additionally, users can choose specific parts of speech (POS) for the words in question, enabling more refined searches, like “run_VERB” or “book_NOUN.”
Once a query is entered, Ngram Viewer scans through its vast corpus and calculates how often the word or phrase appears each year as a proportion of all words published that year. For example, if the word “revolution” appears 50 times in 1 million words published in 1900, its frequency is 0.005%. The Ngram Viewer then plots these frequencies on a graph to visually represent trends across time.
Applications of Google Ngram Viewer
The Ngram Viewer has a variety of applications, from linguistic analysis to historical research. Here are a few prominent examples:
- Linguistic and Language Studies
For linguists, the Ngram Viewer provides data to analyze how language changes over time. It can reveal shifts in word popularity, the rise of new terms, or the decline of older words. For instance, researchers could track the decline of “thou” in favor of “you” in English, signaling a shift in English from the 17th century onward. Similarly, they could observe the rise of modern technology-related words like “computer” or “internet,” showcasing language’s response to technological progress. - Cultural and Historical Analysis
Historians use the Ngram Viewer to explore societal trends, values, and interests over time. By searching for phrases related to political ideologies, social movements, or cultural phenomena, they can observe the peaks and declines that correspond to historical events. For example, “feminism” may show significant increases during key historical periods, such as the suffrage movement of the early 20th century and the women’s liberation movement of the 1960s and 70s. - Tracing Ideological Shifts
Political scientists and sociologists use the tool to analyze the prevalence of certain ideologies over time. For instance, words like “liberty” and “freedom” can provide insight into periods of political turmoil, reform, or revolution. By observing fluctuations in these terms’ usage, researchers can infer when societies were more focused on these ideals, potentially corresponding to political or social upheaval. - Cross-Language Comparisons
The Ngram Viewer’s multilingual capabilities allow for comparisons across different languages. Researchers can examine how certain words, ideas, or literary themes develop in various cultural contexts. For example, terms related to democracy may emerge differently in French and English texts, reflecting the unique historical contexts of each language community. - Literary and Art Historical Research
For those studying literature or the arts, the Ngram Viewer can track the rise of literary movements, genres, or terms associated with specific styles, such as “Romanticism,” “Realism,” or “Postmodernism.” Researchers can pinpoint when these movements gained traction and when their influence waned, correlating the data with significant publications or shifts in cultural focus.
Limitations of Google Ngram Viewer
While Google Ngram Viewer is a powerful tool, it has several limitations that users should consider:
- Limited to Published Works
The dataset is drawn exclusively from published books, meaning it doesn’t include data from newspapers, letters, or other forms of written communication that could provide different insights. This limitation restricts the Ngram Viewer’s ability to capture everyday language and informal speech patterns. - Lack of Context
One of the primary drawbacks of Ngram Viewer is that it provides no context for the words it tracks. For instance, a search for the word “virus” may show peaks in certain years, but without context, it’s unclear whether these references are to biological viruses, computer viruses, or metaphorical uses. Additionally, the tool doesn’t account for changes in word meaning over time, which can lead to misleading interpretations. - Publication Biases
The corpus primarily includes Western books, leading to a potential bias in language and cultural representation. Additionally, some periods, especially earlier ones, may be over- or under-represented due to the availability of digitized texts, potentially skewing the results. - Sampling and Frequency Errors
Frequency calculations can be affected by the sheer number of books published in certain years. For example, an increase in the publication of scientific texts in the 20th century could inflate the frequency of scientific terms, even if they weren’t necessarily more common in general discourse. - Changes in Book Publishing Practices
Over time, changes in publishing practices can influence word frequency. For example, in the 19th century, authors published serialized novels, which might use more repetitive language. By the 20th century, novels became more concise, affecting word choice and frequency.
Best Practices for Using Google Ngram Viewer
To get the most out of Google Ngram Viewer, users should approach the tool with careful planning and critical analysis:
Combine with Historical Knowledge: It’s essential to interpret trends in conjunction with historical events and broader cultural context. For example, an uptick in “influenza” may coincide with the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic.
Use Smoothing Functions: Ngram Viewer allows users to smooth data by averaging frequencies over multiple years, helping to reduce noise in the data and highlight overall trends.
Explore Multiple Terms and Variants: Trying different spellings, forms, and synonyms of words can provide a more comprehensive picture. For instance, searching for “civil rights, civil liberties” can yield a fuller understanding than searching for only one term.
Corroborate with Other Sources: Since Ngram data alone lacks context, supplementing it with primary sources, academic studies, or historical records can lead to a more accurate analysis.
The Google Ngram Viewer is a remarkable tool for examining the linguistic and cultural evolution of ideas across time. By tracking word frequencies in a vast collection of digitized books, the Ngram Viewer offers insights into how language, ideas, and societal focus shift across centuries. However, like any analytical tool, it has its limitations and requires careful, context-informed use. For researchers, students, and curious minds, the Ngram Viewer remains a fascinating resource to explore the hidden narratives of history and language, providing a glimpse into the evolution of human thought and culture.