# Quantifying patterns of punctuation in modern Chinese prose

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.04449 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.04449/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 6 of its 41 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 6 Mar 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 6 of 6)

- [Role-Play with Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.16367/) (2023)
- [Complex systems approach to natural language](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.02772/) (2024)
- [In narrative texts punctuation marks obey the same statistics as words](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1604.00834/) (2016)
- [Universal versus system-specific features of punctuation usage patterns in~major Western~languages](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.11182/) (2022)
- [Statistics of punctuation in experimental literature -- the remarkable case of "Finnegans Wake" by James Joyce](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.00483/) (2024)
- [Multifractal hopscotch in "Hopscotch" by Julio Cortazar](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.12955/) (2025)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Average shortest-path length in word-adjacency networks: Chinese versus English](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.06361/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Recent research shows that punctuation patterns in texts exhibit universal features across languages. Analysis of Western classical literature reveals that the distribution of spaces between punctuation marks aligns with a discrete Weibull distribution, typically used in survival analysis. By extending this analysis to Chinese literature represented here by three notable contemporary works, it is shown that Zipf's law applies to Chinese texts similarly to Western texts, where punctuation patterns also improve adherence to the law. Additionally, the distance distribution between punctuation marks in Chinese texts follows the Weibull model, though larger spacing is less frequent than in English translations. Sentence-ending punctuation, representing sentence length, diverges more from this pattern, reflecting greater flexibility in sentence length. This variability supports the formation of complex, multifractal sentence structures, particularly evident in Gao Xingjian's "Soul Mountain". These findings demonstrate that both Chinese and Western texts share universal punctuation and word distribution patterns, underscoring their broad applicability across languages.