Did wordprints find Sidney Rigdon in the Book of Mormon?

I’d want to verify the change in dictation order, then see if it holds across similar passages. The boundary also changes which narrators and kinds of text are represented.

You give the pattern a fair test. The small-plates material printed first appears to have been dictated later. Comparing like passages helps isolate what changes at the boundary.

An abrupt change would make a switch of authors my leading explanation.

That is one possible explanation. Check whether the data also mark a shift in topic, narrator, or quoted scripture before treating a change in authorship as the leading explanation.

I’d take the highest match as the strongest evidence, especially if the model also knew other writers.

A highest score tells you who was closest among the available choices. The missing candidate test asks whether the method can recognize a poor fit and decline to assign the text.

They were leading matches on a fixed list. Another study allowed the model to reject the candidates. It left 175 of 239 chapters unassigned.

You explain what changed. The no-match result makes the original named attribution less convincing and leaves the underlying identity open.

A pattern in comparable Rigdon writing that predicts the shift, plus evidence that he or his work could have reached Joseph before publication.

You name two independent checks. The known meeting is after publication, so an earlier role needs evidence of access or transmission.

A larger word-frequency study that also includes Joseph Smith.

Larger samples can help if the passages are comparable. A better match would still leave a historical question about how the proposed contribution could have reached Joseph.