Reply to the commentary "Be careful when assuming the obvious", by P. Alday

TL;DR

This paper responds to critiques on linguistic theory assumptions, specifically addressing dependency length measurement and cost monotonicity, while highlighting the importance of diverse parsimony considerations in linguistic research.

Contribution

It clarifies assumptions in a mathematical model of word order and revises psychological biases, emphasizing the value of multidimensional parsimony in linguistic studies.

Findings

Clarifies assumptions about dependency length measurement.

Revises implicit psychological biases in linguistic modeling.

Highlights the importance of multidimensional parsimony.

Abstract

Here we respond to some comments by Alday concerning headedness in linguistic theory and the validity of the assumptions of a mathematical model for word order. For brevity, we focus only on two assumptions: the unit of measurement of dependency length and the monotonicity of the cost of a dependency as a function of its length. We also revise the implicit psychological bias in Alday's comments. Notwithstanding, Alday is indicating the path for linguistic research with his unusual concerns about parsimony from multiple dimensions.