Quantifying patterns of punctuation in modern Chinese prose.

Area of Science:

• Computational Linguistics
• Quantitative Linguistics
• Literary Studies

Background:

• Punctuation patterns exhibit universal features across languages.
• Previous research analyzed Western classical literature, noting a discrete Weibull distribution for inter-punctuation spacing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To extend the analysis of punctuation patterns to Chinese contemporary literature.
• To investigate the applicability of Zipf's law and Weibull distribution to Chinese texts.
• To compare punctuation and sentence structure patterns between Chinese and Western literature.

Main Methods:

• Quantitative analysis of punctuation spacing in three contemporary Chinese literary works.
• Application of Zipf's law and discrete Weibull distribution models.
• Comparison with findings from Western classical literature and English translations.

Main Results:

• Zipf's law applies to Chinese texts, with punctuation improving adherence.
• Inter-punctuation distance distribution in Chinese texts follows a Weibull model, with less frequent large spacing than in English.
• Sentence-ending punctuation in Chinese shows greater variability, supporting complex sentence structures.

Conclusions:

• Chinese and Western texts share universal punctuation and word distribution patterns.
• Punctuation analysis provides insights into linguistic universals and text complexity.
• Findings underscore the broad applicability of these quantitative linguistic models across languages.