Crossings as a side effect of dependency lengths

Abstract

The syntactic structure of sentences exhibits a striking regularity: dependencies tend to not cross when drawn above the sentence. We investigate two competing explanations. The traditional hypothesis is that this trend arises from an independent principle of syntax that reduces crossings practically to zero. An alternative to this view is the hypothesis that crossings are a side effect of dependency lengths, i.e. sentences with shorter dependency lengths should tend to have fewer crossings. We are able to reject the traditional view in the majority of languages considered. The alternative hypothesis can lead to a more parsimonious theory of language.

the discussion section has been expanded significantly; in press in Complexity (Wiley)

References in corpus (2)

• The scarcity of crossing dependencies: a direct outcome of a specific constraint?
• A stronger null hypothesis for crossing dependencies

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Are crossing dependencies really scarce?
• The scarcity of crossing dependencies: a direct outcome of a specific constraint?
• On the relation between dependency distance, crossing dependencies, and parsing. Comment on "Dependency distance: a new perspective on syntactic patterns in natural languages" by Haitao Liu et al
• Edge crossings in random linear arrangements
• The Impact of Edge Displacement Vaserstein Distance on UD Parsing Performance
• Formal Constraints on Dependency Syntax