# Understanding the Use of Quantifiers in Mandarin

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2209.11977 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.11977/

## Key facts

- Cited by 3 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 2 of its 23 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 24 Sep 2022.

## Builds on (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [Towards a Formal Distributional Semantics: Simulating Logical Calculi with Tensors](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1304.5823/) (2013)
- [Lessons from Computational Modelling of Reference Production in Mandarin and English](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.07398/) (2020)

## Built on by (most cited first, 3 of 3)

- [A Survey on Semantic Processing Techniques](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.18345/) (2023)
- [Computational Modelling of Plurality and Definiteness in Chinese Noun Phrases](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.04376/) (2024)
- [How Do People Quantify Naturally: Evidence from Mandarin Picture Description](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.09838/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We introduce a corpus of short texts in Mandarin, in which quantified expressions figure prominently. We illustrate the significance of the corpus by examining the hypothesis (known as Huang's "coolness" hypothesis) that speakers of East Asian Languages tend to speak more briefly but less informatively than, for example, speakers of West-European languages. The corpus results from an elicitation experiment in which participants were asked to describe abstract visual scenes. We compare the resulting corpus, called MQTUNA, with an English corpus that was collected using the same experimental paradigm. The comparison reveals that some, though not all, aspects of quantifier use support the above-mentioned hypothesis. Implications of these findings for the generation of quantified noun phrases are discussed.