When martial artists speak: A stylometric analysis of orality features in English translations of Wuxia fiction
Kan Wu, Defeng Li · Studia Neophilologica · 2025
This study employs stylometric analysis to investigate orality features in English translations of Chinese Wuxia fiction. Analyzing eight commercially published Wuxia translations, the study identified significant variations in orality features between works translated in the 1990s/2000s and those in the 2010s/2020s. These differences are primarily influenced by translators’ professional habitus and motivations, as well as publishers’ marketing strategies. Furthermore, the study found that these differences in orality features may influence readers’ perceptions of the Wuxia genre and their engagement with Wuxia characters. The study is innovative in both theoretical and methodological aspects. Theoretically, it reveals potential connections in orality features across various Wuxia translations, addressing a crucial yet underexplored aspect of the genre’s oral storytelling. Methodologically, the research enhances orality studies by employing a multi-perspective design that incorporates orality markers and linguistic dimensions, thereby deepening the analysis through methodological triangulation.