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Set the text content language and stop words

 

The text content language and stop word lists are managed via project properties. Project properties' settings apply to every user who accesses the project.

In server projects, all project users can view project properties (including the text content language and stop words list), but only Project Owners can make changes—refer to About teamwork in a server project for more information.

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Why set the text content language?

NVivo provides the following text content languages: Chinese, English (UK), English (US), French, German, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish.  

Each text content language has an associated dictionary that is used for:

Each text content language also has an associated 'stop word' list. The words in the stop word list are filtered out (removed) when you:

  • Run a Word Frequency or Text Search query

  • Generate a cluster analysis diagram comparing words in sources or nodes

If you auto code based on existing coding patterns, NVivo excludes the stop words when comparing wording of text passages to previously coded content.

Make sure that the text content language is set to match the language of your source materials—refer to Set the text content language for detailed instructions.  If the language of your source materials is not available as a text content language, you should set the text content language to 'Other'. When the text content language is set to 'Other', you cannot look for similar words when you run a Text Search query or Word Frequency query.

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What stop words are provided by default?

NVivo 10 for Windows provides default stop words for English (UK), English (US), French, German, Portuguese and Spanish. Default stop words are provided for Japanese (Service Pack 3 or later) and for Chinese (Service Pack 4 or later). The default stop words are less significant words like conjunctions or prepositions, that may not be meaningful to your analysis. You can view the stop words associated with each language, and you can customize the stop words by adding or removing words from the stop word list.

The text content language setting in your project, determines which list of stop words is in use—for example, the English (US) stop words list, or the Spanish stop words list. If the language of your source materials is not available in the Text content language list, you should select 'Other'. By default, the stop word list for the language 'Other' is empty—you can add your own words to create a stop word list to suit the language of your sources.

NOTE  NVivo 10 provides more stop words for English (UK) and English (US) than were provided in earlier versions of the software. When you convert your NVivo 9 (or earlier) to NVivo 10 format, these additional stop words are added to the stop word list. However, if you modified your stop word list prior to conversion to NVivo 10 format, the list is not updated during the conversion.

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Set the text content language for your project

  1. Click the File tab, point to Info, and then click Project Properties.

The Project Properties dialog box opens.

  1. On the General tab, select the language used in your sources from the Text content language list.

  2. Click OK.

NOTE  

  • If the language used in your sources is not available in the Text content language list, select the language 'Other'. By default, the stop word list for the language 'Other' is empty—you can add your own words to create a stop word list to suit the language of your sources.

  • You can also set the default text content language that will apply to any future projects you create, refer to Set application options (General tab options) for more information.

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View, add or remove stop words

  1. Click the File tab, point to Info, and then click Project Properties.

The Project Properties dialog box opens.

  1. On the General tab, click the Stop Words button. The Stop Words dialog box opens.

  2. (Optional) Edit the list of stop words. You can add or remove words from the list. Each word must be separated by a space.

  3. Click OK. to close the Stop Words dialog box.

  4. Click OK.

NOTE 

  • You can also add stop words by selecting words displayed in the results of a Word Frequency query. Select the word you want to exclude from the query results, then click Add to Stop Words List, in the Actions group on the Query tab.

  • If you want to change the stop words for more than one language, make sure you click Apply on the Project Properties dialog after changing the stop words for a language (before you select the next language).

  • In a server project, you cannot add or remove stop words when another user has a source (internal, external or memo) open in edit mode.

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Restore the default stop words

CAUTION  If you restore the default stop word list for a text content language, any words that you have added to the stop word list are removed.

  1. Click the File tab, point to Info, and then click Project Properties.

The Project Properties dialog box opens.

  1. On the General tab, click the Stop Words button. The Stop Words dialog box opens.

  2. Click Reset.

  3. Click OK.

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Service pack improvements for Chinese, French and Japanese text content

NVivo 10 for Windows introduced improvements for Chinese, French and Japanese text content support as part of the service pack releases.

If you are working with sources in the following languages, we recommend you (and all members of your team) use the following service packs of NVivo 10 for Windows:

  • Chinese—Service Pack 4 (or later)

  • French—Service Pack 3 (or later)

  • Japanese—Service Pack 3 (or later)

NOTE  For Chinese and Japanese text content using the above service packs, stop words are used to filter out content only for Word Frequency queries—not for Text Search queries.

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