Xu C, Liang J, Liu H. DDM at Work: Reply to comments on "Dependency distance: A new perspective on syntactic patterns in natural languages".
Phys Life Rev 2017;
21:233-240. [PMID:
28757094 DOI:
10.1016/j.plrev.2017.07.001]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2017] [Accepted: 07/10/2017] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
We provide responses to the commentaries in this volume to evaluate, clarify and extend some of the arguments in Dependency distance: A new perspective on syntactic patterns in natural languages. Evidences show that DDM (dependency distance minimization) is an important linguistic universal, biologically or cognitively motivated, in shaping the language system. As a general tendency, DDM works quite well in theoretical argumentations as well as practical applications. However, this does not mean that DDM is the only linguistic universal that works: it is highly possible that other factors, which might be biologically, physically, socially or culturally motivated, work as well to jointly mold languages.
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