Department of Cognitive, Perceptual and Brain Sciences, University College London, 26 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AP, UK.
Proc Biol Sci. 2012 Nov 22;279(1747):4522-31. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2012.1741. Epub 2012 Sep 12.
It is generally assumed that hierarchical phrase structure plays a central role in human language. However, considerations of simplicity and evolutionary continuity suggest that hierarchical structure should not be invoked too hastily. Indeed, recent neurophysiological, behavioural and computational studies show that sequential sentence structure has considerable explanatory power and that hierarchical processing is often not involved. In this paper, we review evidence from the recent literature supporting the hypothesis that sequential structure may be fundamental to the comprehension, production and acquisition of human language. Moreover, we provide a preliminary sketch outlining a non-hierarchical model of language use and discuss its implications and testable predictions. If linguistic phenomena can be explained by sequential rather than hierarchical structure, this will have considerable impact in a wide range of fields, such as linguistics, ethology, cognitive neuroscience, psychology and computer science.
一般认为，层次结构在人类语言中起着核心作用。然而，从简单性和进化连续性的角度考虑，层次结构不应轻易被采用。事实上，最近的神经生理学、行为学和计算研究表明，顺序句结构具有相当大的解释力，并且层次处理通常不涉及。在本文中，我们回顾了最近的文献中的证据，这些证据支持了这样一种假设，即顺序结构可能是人类语言理解、生成和习得的基础。此外，我们提供了一个初步的概述，概述了一种非层次结构的语言使用模型，并讨论了其含义和可测试的预测。如果语言现象可以用顺序结构而不是层次结构来解释，这将在语言学、动物行为学、认知神经科学、心理学和计算机科学等广泛领域产生重大影响。
