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

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'.