A Comparative Corpus-based Study On Linguistic Style In E-C Translation

An increasing number of researchers have theoretical and empirical investigation on linguistic style in translation. Theoretically, many researchers have touched upon the importance of equivalence of linguistic style in translation, how to achieve equivalence of linguistic style in translation; empirically, many researchers have carried out corpus-based investigation on the linguistic style of translation, primarily the universal features of translation. The universal features of translation typically occurred in translated text rather than original utterances. The universal features of translation mainly include explicitation (the tendency to spell things out in translation, including, in its simplest form, the practice of adding background information), simplification (the idea that translators subconsciously simplify the language or message or both). So far, few studies on linguistic style in translation have been carried out from the comparison between source text and translated versions as well as among several translated versions of the same source text.Under this circumstance, the present study aims to investigate the linguistic style of Tess of the D’urbervilles and its three translated Chinese versions in terms of lexical variables, high frequency words, distribution of parts of speech, lexical density, hypotactic level, average sentence length, average sentence segment length and the use of punctuations. Specifically speaking, this study wants to find out whether the linguistic style is consistent between translated versions and source text as well as among translated versions.The findings of this study are as follows:The linguistic style is not consistent between translated Chinese versions and English source text. In other words, there are noticeable differences between English source text and each Chinese version regarding the given linguistic features. In respect of tokens, three Chinese versions use noticeably higher number of tokens than English source text, which is regarded as inter-language explicitation. In respect of distribution of parts of speech, on the one hand, English version is characterized by more frequent use of grammatical words with a higher ratio of prepositions, conjunctives and pronouns than each Chinese version. On the other hand, each Chinese version uses a higher number of lexical words than English version. Regarding the average sentence length, it is higher in each Chinese version versus original English version. Regarding the average sentence segment length, it is lower in each Chinese version versus original English version. Regarding the number of punctuation, it is higher in each Chinese version versus original English version.In addition, the study also finds out that the linguistic style is not completely consistent among three translated Chinese versions.In other words, there are similarities and differences among different Chinese versions regarding the given linguistic features.In terms of similarities, three Chinese versions all display explicitation and simplification. To begin with, three versions display both inter-language explicitation and inner-language comparable explicitation. Regarding inter-language explicitation, three versions all use a higher number of tokens as opposed to original English version; regarding inner-language comparable explicitation, three versions all use a higher proportion of grammatical words than non-translated Chinese. In addition, three Chinese versions also display simplification. On the one hand, Chinese versions display simplification as opposed to original English version. Three Chinese versions use lower average sentence segment than original English version; and two Chinese versions (Zhang’s and Nie’s versions) use lower figures of STTR than original English version. On the other hand, three versions display simplification as opposed to non-translated Chinese. Three versions use a lower ratio of lexical density than non-translated Chinese; besides, the proportion of high frequency words is higher in each Chinese version than non-translated Chinese.Differences also occur among three Chinese versions. In terms of the number of tokens, Zhang’s version uses the highest number of tokens, and Sun’s version uses the lowest number of tokens. In terms of the figure of STTR and lexical density, Sun’s version is characterized by the highest figure of STTR and lexical density; Zhang’s version is characterized by the lowest figure of lexical density; Nie’s version is characterized by the lowest figure of STTR. In terms of high frequency words, the proportion of first ten, thirty, fifty and one hundred words is all highest in Nie’s version, followed by Zhang’s version and lowest in Sun’s version; the number of high frequency words surpassing0.1%is highest in Zhang’s version, followed by Nie’s version and lowest in Sun’s version. Regarding average sentence length, it is highest in Zhang’s version, followed by Nie’s version and lowest in Sun’s version; regarding average sentence segment length, it is highest in Nie’s version, followed by Sun’s version and lowest in Zhang’s version. Regarding the use of punctuation, the number of punctuation is highest in Zhang’s version, followed by Sun’s version and lowest in Nie’s version.The major findings obtained from this study have some implications on translation theories, methodology and teaching. To begin with, the findings of this research on the whole support universal features in translation. Secondly, this corpus-based research sheds light on the use of annotated parallel corpus and relevant software in the study of translation. Thirdly, teachers can make use of abundant examples in annotated parallel corpus to instruct students how to deal with different parts of speech in E-C translation as well learn to appreciate the linguistic style of some superior translations.