Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia
Meng Ji

Outline
1. Aim and purpose of the general project;
2. Two sub-projects ongoing:
2 1 A corpus-based
2.1b d multilingual
l ili
l study
d off theh translationl i off scientifici ifi
terminology (TST);
2.2 A corpus-based study of the translation of Darwin in Japan (TDJ);
3 Construction of historical linguistic database: TDJ sub-project;3.
sub project;
4. Corpus-based study of historical linguistic texts: TST sub-project;
5. Conclusion: implication of digital technologies and methodologicalinnovation for the Humanities
Humanities.

Aim of the General Project (1/2)
1.

Gather historical evidence on the contrastive patterns of thesocial and cultural evolution in East Asia and beyond in the earlymodern period (late 19th century onwards);

2
2.

De elop newDevelop
ne concepts and analyticalanal tical techniques
techniq es in theexploration of historical textual data from a comparativeperspective;

3.

Examine the strength
g and shortcomings
g of the binaryy model ofWest vis-à-vis East in comparative historical analysis;Ai off the General
AimGProjectj (2/2)
4.

Methodological innovation in traditional humanistic subjects topy and cross-field collaboration at national
foster inter-disciplinarity
and international levels;

5.

EEncourageemerging
i humanistic
hi i subjects
bjsuchh as translationl istudies, cross-cultural studies, historical sociolinguistics in thenew era of digitalization and empiricism;Projects Ongoing (1/6): TST Subproject
A corpus-based multilingual study of early Chinese and Japanesetranslation of Western scientific terminology

Complex process ofcross-cultural and crosslinguistic exchange
between Japan, China
and competing Westerncultural
lt l entities
titiProjects Ongoing (2/6): TST subproject1• Exploration of a large-scale online database of early
Chinese and Japanese translations of Western scientifictexts;2• Extraction,
E t ti annotationt ti andd statisticalt ti ti l processing
i offquantitative linguistic data in a multilingual database oftranslated scientific terms in Chinese and Japanese;3• Originalgempiricalpinvestigation
gof the formation ofmodern scientific terminology in China and Japan from acognitive and functional perspective;Projects Ongoing (3/6): TDJ Subproject
A Corpus-Basedp
Studyy of theTranslation of Darwin in Japan

人祖論
1881

種源論
1896

種の起原
1927

Aim: reveal the particular linguistic and conceptual
trajectory followed by Japan in its assimilation ofDarwin’ss evolutionism since the late nineteenth
Darwincentury;Projectsj
Ongoingg g (4/6):( ) TDJ Subprojectp jStage 1
Construction of a pilot parallel corpus of Japanese translationsof Darwinian works since the late 19th century;

StStage2
Development of an annotation framework for the extraction ofusefulf l textualt t l information;
i fti

Stage 3
Computer-assisted parallel textual analysis

Projectsj
Ongoingg g (5/6): TDJ Subprojectp j
An East Asian Model of Dissemination of Evolutionism

进化论
1897

進化論
1878

Evolution
1859

ProjectsjOngoingg g ((6/6):) TDJ Subprojectp j
In search of a world-wide model of dissemination of evolution

Construction ofHistorical Linguistic Database
TDJ subprojectConstruction of TDJ Corpus (1/4)

Stage 1
Parallel Text
Alignment

Scanning
g ofpaperback
documents

Conversion
C
i off PDF
to text files

Parallel textalignment atphrasalhl levell l

Semi-automaticJapanese textsegmentationi

Manual conversion
errors detection

Construction of TDJ Corpus (2/4)
Stageg 2. Linguistic
gannotation
1. Descriptiveness of the language: e.g. use of figurative language
suchh as metaphors,hsimile,i il hyperbole,
hb l allegory,lletc.
2. Logic structure:¾

Conjunctions: however, but, furthermore, therefore, etc.

¾

Modality:d li hypothesis
hh i making
ki andd argument developmentd l

3. Textual features specific to scientific translation:¾

Nominalization of scientific terms: …. 化, ….效应, …..过程, etc.

¾

Mi d terminology
Mixedi lor transliteration;lii

Construction of TDJ Corpus (3/4)
Semanticfeatures:
e.g. figurative useof language

Logicstructure

Genre-specificfeatures:
nominalization,modality

Construction of TDJ Corpus (4/4)
Stage 3. Development of an online search engine to facilitate userdesigned
gexploration
pof the pparallel corpuspCorpus-Based Study ofHistorical Linguistic Texts
TST Subproject

TST Database Structure (1/4)

TST Database Structure (2/4)

Textualmaterialchosen forthe TSTsubproject

TST Database Structure (3/4)( )The English Chinese Dictionary with Punti and Mandarin
Pronunciation (1866-9)
A Vocabulary and Handbook of the Chinese Language (1872-3)

Tetsugaku Jii (A Dictionary of Philosophical Terms) (1884)
Dictionnaire Français-Chinois (contenant les expressions lesplus usitées de la langue mandarine) (1884)
Nederlandsch-Chineesch
Nederlandsch
Chineesch Woordenboek met de Transcriptie derChineesche Karakters in het Tsiang-Tsiu Dialekt (1886)

TST Database Structure (4/4)
NNo.

A thAuthorDate
Dt offPublicationTranslation
Tl tiDirection

Corpus SizeCSiCharacter Words

1WilhelmLobscheid

1866 91866-9(German) English ÆChinese5 121
5,2Justus
Doolittle

1872-31872
3(American) English ÆChinese

2 136
2,3Inoue
Tetsujiro

1884

EnglishgÆJapanese

3,, 912

4

Seraphim
Couvreur1884

French Æ
Chinese500

5

Gustave
Schlegel

1886

Dutch ÆChinese

3, 782

Textual Features Studied (1/2)
Creative use of functional particles: a basic semantic or syntactic unit attachedto the main part of a character word, to indicate the abstract concept or themetaphorical function of the linguistic expression:Abstract concepts (e.g. patterns of change or ideologies): relative conception 相對概念; positive conception 確實概念; privative conception 折服概念 (Inoue,1884)

Systems of scientific symbols and basic concepts (e.g. medical, clinical terms):
force d‘attraction 牽引之力; force centrifuge 離心之力; force centripète 向心之力 (Couvreur ,1884)

Textual Features Studied (2/2)


Why functional particles?

1.

At the conceptual level: to introduce some conceptual commensurability
b t
betweenllanguages using
i ththe LLatin
ti alphabetl h b t andd languages
lusingi characters,
ht
especially Chinese and Japanese;2.

At the linguistic and technical level: proved to be the most cost-effective wayof establishing a new system of scientific nomenclature or terminology in thecharacter-based writing system of Chinese and Japanese in the latenineteenth century;

Functional Particles in Translated Terminology (1/2)
No.

Functional particles categories

Lobscheid

Doolittle

Inoue

Couvreur

Schlegel

1.
2
2.

GMF
SCF ACSCF_AC

563001041103

4820963.

SCF_CC

1953

193415

4.

SCF_CP

52212787

5.

SCF_DE5415810901186.

SCF_DF211210310397.

SCF_ML532313396498.

SCF_PA_9651591602119.

SCF_PE1022513826010.

SCF_PQ

11514241411.

SCF_QA

514112141812.

SCF_SCP

32158324313.

SCF_SQ

190

229407914.

SCF_TSR35316383215.

SCF_SS

37321

45365216.

SCG_TG

405683678

17.

SCF_TS

471690328918.

NA

167

50182

019.

Total

1, 0001, 0001, 0001, 0001, 000Functional Particles in Translated Terminology (2/2)
Categories

Definition

SCF_ACabstract concepts (e.g. patterns of change or ideologies);

SCF_CC

units of classification or types of measurement;

SCF_CPchemical process, physical change or ways of human behaviour

SCF_DE

devices or apparatus (including those of the human body) (concrete or abstract devices)SCF_DFdisciplinary fields

SCF_MLresearch methodologies (specific or abstract) or logic

SCF PASCF_PApractitioners institutions of social and cultural activities and the forms of their organization
practitioners,

SCF_PE

physical entities, chemical substance, natural phenomena

SCF_PQphysical qualities of things including shape, weight, size, quantity, etc.

SCF_QA

qualities of animate or inanimate things in response to external changes (natural, social, physical,etc)

SCF_SCPsocial, cultural and religious practice;

SCF_SQ

nominalization: persons, objects, concepts or socio-cultural phenomena of special qualities;

SCF_TSR

temporal or spatial reference

SCF_SS

systems of scientific symbols and basic disciplinary concepts (e.g. medical, clinical terms)

SCF_TG

textual genres: oral or written discourse; particular linguistic events or phenomena

SCF_TS

theoretical systems

Distribution of Functional Particles

Agglomeration Schedule of HCA of Functional Particles
Cluster CombinedStage

Cluster 1

Cluster 2

Stage Cluster First Appears
Distance Coefficients

Cluster 1

Cluster 2

Next Stage1

3

10.089
089

00

5215

16.247

00

6

32

9.423

00

4

42

13.689

3012

5

35

1.032

1011

61115

1 634
1.634

0

210

7

162.452

00

10

8

48

4.119

00

9

94

14

7.429

80

1310

11110.873

7611111316.193

10512121224.727

11415

1341234.539

9014144746 957
46.95713015151475.000

12140Dendrogram
gof HCA of Functional Particles

A Refined Model of Intra-Textual Similarities(based on the distribution of functional particles)
HCA

Original

Conceptual

Dimension

Functional Particles

Scale

SCF_CP, SCF_QA, SCF_DF

Nature of things(physical change and general qualities)

1

SCF_TG, SCF_TS, SCF_SCP

Naming systems(theoretical socio(theoretical,socio-cultural
cultural, scientific)

2

SCF_AC, SCF_ML

Metaphorical concepts

SCF_CC, SCF_PQ, SCF_TSR

Measurement and directional location

SCF_DE,, SCF
SC
SC _PE,, SC
SCF_SS,SS, SC
SCF_SQ,SQ,Concrete
Coc ete tthings
gs anda d agents
age ts

SCF_PA

Conclusion (1/2)
Implication of digital technologies for the Humanities

11.

Construction and exploration of large-scalelarge scale databases of historical material
may greatly enhance one’s research capacity;2.

Systematize observation and processing of first-hand textual data, preparing
the ground for further theoretical sophistication;

3.

Offer novel insights into existing and novel social and cultural phenomena;

44.

Identify interesting patterns in quantitative historical material

Conclusion (2/2)( )IImportancet
off methodologicalth d l i l innovationiti forf theth Humanities
H
iti

1..

Broadenoade aandd deepedeepen thet e scope ofo traditionalt ad t o a humanistic
u a st c subjects;

2.

Provide novel empirical evidence to verify or reject existing theories;

3.

Furnish insightful material for the formulation and testing of new
hypotheses and theories;

4.

Encourage cross-fieldfi ld collaborationll b
i to increasei
researchh productivity;d i i55.

Identify new areas of research and establishment of new subject fields.
fieldsReference

(2011) Ji, M. and M. Oakes, Quantitative Research Methods in CorpusBased Translation Studies, Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins

(2010) Ji, M. Phraseology in Corpus-Based Translation Studies, Oxford
and New York: Peter Lang International(2010) Ji, M. “A corpus-based study of lexical periodization in Chinese
historical corpora”, in Literary and Linguistic Computing, Oxford
University Press, vol. 25, no.2, pp. 199-213

(2009) Ji, M. “Corpus stylistics in Translation Studies”, in Language andLiterature: Journal of Poetics and Linguistics Association, vol. 18, no.1,
London and Washington: Sage Publication, pp. 61-73

(2006-) The Complete Works of Charles Darwin, University of Cambridge
Press , accessible online at http://darwin-online.org.uk/index.html