Quantifying the style of joint translations: A multi-perspective stylometric analysis of The story of the stone by David Hawkes and John Minford

ABSTRACT

In this study, we explore the under-examined area of joint translation within translation studies academia through a detailed stylometric analysis of the English rendition of the classic Chinese novel Hongloumeng (literally A dream of red mansions, also known as The story of the stone). Initially, we scrutinize the translation’s lexical diversity employing metrics such as MATTR and MWL, alongside analyzing sentence length via MSL and idea density through the use of CPIDR. Subsequently, we apply a multidimensional analysis with the MAT 1.3.2 framework. Finally, we delve into the implications our stylometric findings have for stylistic analysis. Our comprehensive quantitative evaluation underscores the efficacy of multi-perspective stylometric analysis in enhancing descriptive studies of translator and translation styles, thereby effectively distinguishing ‘translator-ship’.

KEYWORDS:

• Stylometric analysis
• multi-perspective
• style consistency
• joint translation
• The story of the stone

Ackowledgements

For generous financial support I am grateful to the following institutions: Key Laboratory of Language Science and Multilingual Artificial Intelligence, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai, China (grant KLSMAI-2023-OP-0008); China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (grant 2023M730702); the Center for Translation Studies of Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (grant CTS202010); the Humanities and Social Sciences Funds of Department of Education of Hubei Province (grant 20G012); the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (grant CCNU24ZZ086). I would also like to express my gratitude to the Editor and the anonymous reviewers of Studia Neophilologica for their insightful comments and suggestions. I am particularly indebted to Merja Kytö for providing invaluable and timely feedback on the final version of this paper. Needless to say, any shortcomings are the sole responsibility of mine.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by Key Laboratory of Language Science and Multilingual Artificial Intelligence, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai, China (grant KLSMAI-2023-OP-0008); China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (grant 2023M730702); the Center for Translation Studies of Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (grant CTS202010); the Humanities and Social Sciences Funds of Department of Education of Hubei Province (grant 20G012); the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (grant CCNU24ZZ086).