Automatic Extraction of Reversal-Type Punch Lines in Shin'ichi Hoshi's Flash Fictions

抄録

This paper proposes a method for describing narrative structure that focuses on the behavior of characters in a story. In this approach, focus, polarity, dynamic, motivation, and result are assigned as attributes of behavior. As a case study, the plots of flash fictions by Shin'ichi Hoshi were analyzed and represented formally using such behavioral attributes. Specifically, this approach to plot description enabled the representation of “punch lines,” which comprise a reversal of story elements (such as agent and recipient). Using software to analyze plot descriptions, certain types of reversal-type punch lines were automatically extracted. These extracted reversal patterns were sorted based on the rules of “similarity” and “distant foreshadowing,” and valid reversal-type punch lines were extracted in 60% of the analyzed stories.