AI-Powered Corpus Translation Studies at Work : Exploring Early English Translations by Aphra Behn and her Contemporaries of Fontenelle's (1686) Entretiens sur la pluralite des mondes

This open access book introduces a pioneering methodology in corpus translation studies by integrating generative artificial intelligence to assist in text annotation, alignment, and interpretative analysis, with an illustrative application.

This open access book introduces a pioneering methodology in corpus translation studies by integrating generative artificial intelligence to assist in text annotation, alignment, and interpretative analysis, with an illustrative application. It focuses on early (re)translations by Aphra Behn and her contemporaries of Fontenelle’s Entretiens sur la pluralité des mondes (1686), exploring literary strategies within their historical and socio-cultural contexts. The approach combines human expertise with generative AI tools to identify linguistic and extralinguistic features, such as tone, rhetoric, and cultural references, aiming to improve annotation efficiency, scalability, and analytical depth.    The study presents an illustrative historical and literary exploration, examining lesser-known translations alongside Aphra Behn’s 1688 version. It highlights authorial and ideological nuances in early modern translation, supported by AI-assisted categorisation.   The book covers traditional corpus methods, AI’s role in translation studies, methodological design, historical context of the texts, application of AI analysis, ethical considerations, and future research directions.