Geometric Structures and Patterns of Meaning: A PHATE Manifold Analysis of Chinese Character Embeddings

Abstract

We systematically investigate geometric patterns in Chinese character embeddings using PHATE manifold analysis. Through cross-validation across seven embedding models and eight dimensionality reduction methods, we observe clustering patterns for content words and branching patterns for function words. Analysis of over 1000 Chinese characters across 12 semantic domains reveals that geometric complexity correlates with semantic content: meaningful characters exhibit rich geometric diversity while structural radicals collapse into tight clusters. The comprehensive child-network analysis (123 phrases) demonstrates systematic semantic expansion from elemental character. These findings provide computational evidence supporting traditional linguistic theory and establish a novel framework for geometric analysis of semantic organization.