Style in speech and narration of two English translations of Hongloumeng: A corpus-based multidimensional study

This study examined the style of two English translations of Hongloumeng by David Hawkes and the Yangs (Xianyi Yang and Gladys Yang) using a multidimensional analysis to identify how the two translations differ in their sub-registers (narration and fictional speech). The results reveal that the Yangs’ translation of narration is relatively more narrative and context-independent, whereas Hawkes’ is more active and context-bound. Similarly, Hawkes’ translation of fictional speech is more conversational and interactional and tends more towards the orality scale with a strong emphasis on the involvement of fictional characters. In contrast, the Yangs’ translation of fictional speech tends to be more informational and explicit. These stylistic differences reflect the translators’ conscious and/or unconscious choices, which is attributable to their language backgrounds, translation strategies and cultural stances. By taking register variations and dimensions of linguistic features into consideration, the paper champions a new approach to investigating translation style.