Seeking Meaning in a Space Made out of Strokes, Radicals, Characters and Compounds

TL;DR

This paper explores how the structural components of Chinese characters, from strokes to compounds, contribute to meaning, aiming to extend NLP techniques for better understanding of ideographic languages.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach to analyze the semantic role of strokes and radicals in Chinese characters using extended NLP techniques.

Findings

Radicals are fundamental to Chinese semantics.

Strokes may carry some semantic information.

Extended NLP methods can reveal deeper language structures.

Abstract

Chinese characters can be compared to a molecular structure: a character is analogous to a molecule, radicals are like atoms, calligraphic strokes correspond to elementary particles, and when characters form compounds, they are like molecular structures. In chemistry the conjunction of all of these structural levels produces what we perceive as matter. In language, the conjunction of strokes, radicals, characters, and compounds produces meaning. But when does meaning arise? We all know that radicals are, in some sense, the basic semantic components of Chinese script, but what about strokes? Considering the fact that many characters are made by adding individual strokes to (combinations of) radicals, we can legitimately ask the question whether strokes carry meaning, or not. In this talk I will present my project of extending traditional NLP techniques to radicals and strokes, aiming to obtain a deeper understanding of the way ideographic languages model the world.