Mapping thematic patterns in Indonesian novels through concept mining and computational linguistics
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.64595/lingtech.v2i1.128Keywords:
computational linguistics, concept mining, digital humanities, Indonesian novels, thematic analysisAbstract
Background: The expansion of Indonesian novels across historical periods has produced complex and overlapping thematic formations that remain difficult to map systematically using conventional close-reading approaches.
Objective: This study aims to identify dominant themes, trace their temporal shifts, and examine conceptual overlap among Indonesian novels through a computational framework.
Method: Employing a digital humanities approach, the study analyzes a corpus of 30 Indonesian novels (1920-2022) using concept mining, CF-IDF weighting, semantic similarity measurement, and network analysis.
Results: The findings reveal dominant thematic clusters centered on social inequality, nationalism, gender, religion, and modernization; clear temporal shifts in thematic emphasis across literary periods; and dense conceptual overlap, with social inequality functioning as a central thematic hub. Theme–theme projection and betweenness centrality analysis further demonstrate that thematic meaning emerges through relational structures rather than isolated categories.
Implication: These results strengthen empirical literary analysis by integrating computational rigor with interpretive criticism.
Novelty: This study introduces a replicable, network-based thematic mapping model for Indonesian novels, advancing computational literary studies in the Indonesian context.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Kun Andyan Anindita, Susan Hockey, Tomi Wahyu Septarianto
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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License