The Behavioural Translation Style Space: Towards simulating the temporal dynamics of affect, behaviour, and cognition in human translation production

Abstract

The paper introduces a novel behavioural translation style space (BTSS) that describes possible behavioural translation patterns. The suggested BTSS is organized as a hierarchical structure that entails various embedded processing layers. We posit that observable translation behaviour - i.e. eye and finger movements - is fundamental when executing the physical act of translation but it is caused and shaped by higher-order cognitive processes and affective translation states. We analyse records of keystrokes and gaze data as indicators of the hidden mental processing structure and organize the behavioural patterns as a multi-layered embedded BTSS. We develop a perspective in which the BTSS serves as the basis for a computational translation agent to simulate the temporal dynamics of affect, behavioural routines and cognition during human translation production.