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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

  1. Malvern, D., Richards, B., Chipere, N., & Durán, P. (2004). Lexical Diversity and Language Development: Quantification and Assessment. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN: 9781403902313
  2. McCarthy, P. M., & Jarvis, S. (2007). vocd: A theoretical and empirical evaluation. Language Testing, 24(4), 459–488. DOI: 10.1177/0265532207080767
  3. 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

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Referenced by

ScholarGatevocd-D (D Measure) (vocd-D / HD-D Measure of Lexical Diversity). Retrieved 2026-06-24 from https://scholargate.app/en/linguistics/vocd-lexical-diversity · Dataset: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20539026