Be Careful When Assuming the Obvious: Commentary on "The placement of the head that minimizes online memory: a complex systems approach"

TL;DR

This paper critiques a mathematical model of word order that assumes decreasing memory costs with distance, highlighting the need to consider recent typological and psycholinguistic evidence for a more nuanced understanding.

Contribution

It challenges the assumptions of Ferrer-i-Cancho's model, emphasizing the importance of integrating recent empirical evidence into models of word order and memory.

Findings

Minimal assumptions may overlook complex linguistic evidence

Memory costs are not necessarily a simple decreasing function of distance

Further exploration needed on the interaction between word order and memory

Abstract

Ferrer-i-Cancho (2015) presents a mathematical model of both the synchronic and diachronic nature of word order based on the assumption that memory costs are a never decreasing function of distance and a few very general linguistic assumptions. However, even these minimal and seemingly obvious assumptions are not as safe as they appear in light of recent typological and psycholinguistic evidence. The interaction of word order and memory has further depths to be explored.