An Investigation of Literary Translation Style Through ML Method:A Case Study of Tess of D'Urberville
This paper applies classification and clustering methods in machine learning studies,builds a parallel corpus,and examines the translation styles of the three versions of Hardy's masterpiece Tess of the D'Urberville.From a total of 68 features,15 significant ones are selected and quantitatively synthesized with examples for detailed explana-tion.The results show that these salient features can effectively distinguish the stylistic differences among the three translations,with both classifying and clustering experiments achieving an average accuracy rate of about 97%.The study found that at the document-level,each translation shows different style features at the vocabulary,syntax,and discourse aspects;in terms of the keyword level,the frequency differences of certain keywords also present the translator's personal preferences.The article provides data support and fine-grained analysis for previous qualitative re-search,while also proposing some corrective conclusions,such as the higher lexical density,extremely lower proportion of passive bei sentence,and similar number of idioms in Zhang's translation compared to the others.Eventually we at-tempt to provide some improvements and supplements to the research methodology in translation style and translator's style studies.
machine learningtranslation styleparallel corpusTess of the D'Urbervilles