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In no case, perhaps, can we say that any one instance of alliteration or other formal similarity is due to a special process, but a general pattern may be demonstrated. Alliteration, for example, may be detected by a statistical analysis of the arrangements of initial consonants in a reasonably large sample. A tendency to alliterate is shown by the extent to which the initial consonants in a given literary work are not distributed at random. (p. 247)