Employing Information Entropy in Literary Translation: Evaluating Fuzziness Equivalence

SHAO Lu

Sun Yat-sen University

Page 023-042

Abstract: This paper proposes a new method of measuring text fuzziness in equivalence between a target text (TT) and its source text (ST) by employing Claude Shannon’s information entropy theory. The method is demonstrated through a four-step algorithmic process using illustrative examples from the novel The Da Vinci Code and its two Chinese translations. Specifically, information entropy is applied to measure the uncertainty associated with readers’ understanding of the ST and its corresponding TTs. The underlying hypothesis is that the probability distribution of which readers will understand identified fuzzy text can be measured and that the intrinsic uncertainty of a fuzzy item can also be evaluated by calculating its corresponding entropy value in Shannon’s information theory. The paper thus offers both an alternative approach and a supplement to conventional analyses and evaluations of translated texts in literary studies.

Keywords: fuzzy language, translation, equivalence, measurement, information entropy, The Da Vinci Code

DOI: 10.53397/hunnu.jflc.202601003

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