11. The method of claim 1 wherein the comparing comprises comparing one of the counted numbers for the text items having dates of publication within one of the intervals with another of the counted numbers for the text items having dates of publication within another of the intervals.
1. A computer-implemented text analysis method comprising: accessing a plurality of text items regarding a plurality of different topics, wherein the text items were published over a time period; dividing the time period into a plurality of intervals; using dates of publication of the text items, associating the text items with the time intervals; for individual ones of the intervals, counting a number of the text items which include a given text pattern; comparing the counted numbers of text items which include the given text pattern for the individual intervals with one another; and identifying a topical change in the text items using results of the comparing.