vocd-D (D Measure)
vocd-D, also called the D measure, is a length-robust index of lexical diversity developed by David Malvern and Brian Richards. Instead of reporting a single type-token ratio, it characterizes how a text's TTR falls as sample size grows and fits that empirical curve to a one-parameter probabilistic model; the fitted parameter D is the diversity score, with higher D meaning richer vocabulary. HD-D, introduced by McCarthy and Jarvis, is the mathematically exact, sampling-free counterpart that computes the same underlying quantity directly from the hypergeometric distribution.
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Sources
- Malvern, D., Richards, B., Chipere, N., & Durán, P. (2004). Lexical Diversity and Language Development: Quantification and Assessment. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN: 9781403902313
- McCarthy, P. M., & Jarvis, S. (2007). vocd: A theoretical and empirical evaluation. Language Testing, 24(4), 459–488. DOI: 10.1177/0265532207080767 ↗
- McCarthy, P. M., & Jarvis, S. (2010). MTLD, vocd-D, and HD-D: A validation study of sophisticated approaches to lexical diversity assessment. Behavior Research Methods, 42(2), 381–392. DOI: 10.3758/BRM.42.2.381 ↗
How to cite this page
ScholarGate. (2026, June 22). vocd-D / HD-D Measure of Lexical Diversity. ScholarGate. https://scholargate.app/en/linguistics/vocd-lexical-diversity
Which method?
Set this method beside its closest kin and read them side by side — the library lays the books on the table; the choice is yours.
- Lexical DiversityText mining↔ compare
- Measure of Textual Lexical Diversity (MTLD)Linguistics↔ compare
- N-gram AnalysisLinguistics↔ compare
- Type-Token RatioLinguistics↔ compare