Can Syntactic Complexity Distinguish Translator Style?—A Novel Stylometric Analysis of Hongloumeng with Dependency Grammar

The present study is likely the first to investigate translation style through the lens of dependency distance. While translator style has been explored using various indicators—such as STTR, LR, MSL, and typical language patterns like reporting verbs and loan words—prior research has rarely accounted for syntactic structures, particularly syntactic complexity, which has been widely discussed in fields like second language acquisition. Dependency distance is considered a valid measure of syntactic complexity, and studies have demonstrated that its ability to differentiate between translational and original English. Given this, it can be hypothesized that translation style could also be distinguished by dependency distance. Accordingly, this study examines the translator styles of four English versions of the Chinese classic novel Hongloumeng . The results support the hypothesis, showing that dependency distance can effectively distinguish translator styles. Moreover, the findings suggest that dependency direction should also be considered when analyzing translator style.