AI-Driven Intralingual Translation across Historical Varieties

Theoretical Frameworks and Examples from Early Modern English

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13136/2281-4582/2024.i24.1517

Keywords:

Early Modern English, Literary texts, Specialized texts, Intralingual translation, Modernization, AI

Abstract

This article examines how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can transform intralingual translation, with a focus on historical varieties, particularly Early Modern English. It explores the foundations of AI-based translation, addressing both the challenges and opportunities of applying this technology to linguistic change over time. Drawing from models in linguistics, natural language processing, and historical linguistics, the study investigates the modernization of Early Modern English, using literary and specialized texts to demonstrate AI’s effectiveness in handling complex vocabulary and syntax. The paper also evaluates AI's impact on fields like historical linguistics and digital humanities, discussing both the benefits and the limitations, such as the risk of anachronism and the need for human oversight. Additionally, it considers how AI-driven translation can contribute to the digitization and accessibility of historical texts, broadening access to linguistic resources and enhancing appreciation for language evolution.

Author Biography

  • Fabio Ciambella, Sapienza University of Rome

    Fabio Ciambella is a Researcher of English at Sapienza University of Rome. His research interests include the lexicography of dance in Early Modern England, historical pragmatics, corpus linguistics, culinary linguistics, and Second Language Acquisition. His most recent publications are Dance Lexicon in Shakespeare and His Contemporaries: A Corpus-based Approach (Routledge, 2021), and Teaching English as a Second Language with Shakespeare (Cambridge University Press, 2024). He is a member of two research projects of relevant national interest (PRIN): PoWoR (Politics of Worship Pre- and Post-Reformation) and SENS (Shakespeare’s Narrative Sources: Italian Novellas and Their European Dissemination).

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Published

2024-12-20

Issue

No. 24 (2024): Digital/Electronic Literature from the USA: Theories, Forms and Practices

Section

Articles (general section) - English language and linguistics

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Copyright (c) 2024 Fabio Ciambella

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