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.

Punctuation is the main factor introducing correlations in natural language written texts and it crucially impacts their overall effectiveness, expressiveness, and readability. Punctuation marks at the end of sentences are of particular importance as their distribution can determine various complexity features of written natural language. Here, the sentence length variability (SLV) time series representing "Hopscotch" by Julio Cortazar are subjected to quantitative analysis with an attempt to identify their distribution type, long-memory effects, and potential multiscale patterns. The analyzed novel is an important and innovative piece of literature whose essential property is freedom of movement between its building blocks given to a reader by the author. The statistical consequences of this freedom are closely investigated in both the original, Spanish version of the novel, and its translations into English and Polish. Clear evidence of rich multifractality in the SLV dynamics, with a left-sided asymmetry, however, is observed in all three language versions as well as in the versions with differently ordered chapters.