L-motif TTR for Authorship Identification in Hongloumeng and Its Translation
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Yu Fang
Abstract
Previous studies have found that different authors have different writing styles, which can be shown in vocabulary richness. However, little research has focused on whether such differences are shown in corresponding translations. In the present study, Hongloumeng and its two translations by Hawkes and Yang Xianyi are selected as the study object. L-motif TTR is used to reevaluate the authors of Hongloumeng through 15 selected chapters from the first 80 chapters and 15 selected chapters from the rest 40 chapters. Results show that significant differences exist in vocabulary richness between the two parts, suggesting that the two parts were written by two authors. Furthermore, we also evaluate the quality of different translations: (a) both translators choose nearly the same word to express the story; (b) Yang uses more varied words to avoid repetition, whereas Hawkes prefers more simplified words; (c) In translating culture-loaded words, Hawkes favors equal words in Western culture, while Yang translates those words literally.
Abstract
Previous studies have found that different authors have different writing styles, which can be shown in vocabulary richness. However, little research has focused on whether such differences are shown in corresponding translations. In the present study, Hongloumeng and its two translations by Hawkes and Yang Xianyi are selected as the study object. L-motif TTR is used to reevaluate the authors of Hongloumeng through 15 selected chapters from the first 80 chapters and 15 selected chapters from the rest 40 chapters. Results show that significant differences exist in vocabulary richness between the two parts, suggesting that the two parts were written by two authors. Furthermore, we also evaluate the quality of different translations: (a) both translators choose nearly the same word to express the story; (b) Yang uses more varied words to avoid repetition, whereas Hawkes prefers more simplified words; (c) In translating culture-loaded words, Hawkes favors equal words in Western culture, while Yang translates those words literally.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Editors’ Foreword V
- Table of Contents VII
- Persistency of Higher Order Motifs 1
- On Motifs and Verb Valency 13
- Chinese Word Length Motif and Its Evolution 37
- Quantitative Text Classification Based on POS-motifs 65
- L-motif TTR for Authorship Identification in Hongloumeng and Its Translation 87
- Length Motifs of Words in Traditional and Simplified Chinese Scripts 109
- Dependency Distance Motifs in 21 Indo- European Languages 133
- Word Length Distribution and Text Length: Two Important Factors Influencing Properties of Word Length Motifs 151
- Quantitative Genre Analysis Using Linguistic Motifs 165
- The Rank-frequency Distribution of Part-of-speech Motif and Dependency Motif in the Deaf Learners’ Compositions 181
- Quantitative Properties of Polysemy Motifs in Chinese and English 201
- The Words and F-motifs in the Modern Chinese Versions of the Gospel of Mark 217
- Motifs of Generalized Valencies 231
- Index of Names 261
- Subject Index 267
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Editors’ Foreword V
- Table of Contents VII
- Persistency of Higher Order Motifs 1
- On Motifs and Verb Valency 13
- Chinese Word Length Motif and Its Evolution 37
- Quantitative Text Classification Based on POS-motifs 65
- L-motif TTR for Authorship Identification in Hongloumeng and Its Translation 87
- Length Motifs of Words in Traditional and Simplified Chinese Scripts 109
- Dependency Distance Motifs in 21 Indo- European Languages 133
- Word Length Distribution and Text Length: Two Important Factors Influencing Properties of Word Length Motifs 151
- Quantitative Genre Analysis Using Linguistic Motifs 165
- The Rank-frequency Distribution of Part-of-speech Motif and Dependency Motif in the Deaf Learners’ Compositions 181
- Quantitative Properties of Polysemy Motifs in Chinese and English 201
- The Words and F-motifs in the Modern Chinese Versions of the Gospel of Mark 217
- Motifs of Generalized Valencies 231
- Index of Names 261
- Subject Index 267
