Hierarchical and sequential processing of language
Stefan Leo Frank, Morten H. Christiansen · Language Cognition and Neuroscience · 2018
Ding et al. (2017) contrast their view that language processing is based on hierarchical syntactic structures, to a view that relies on word-level input statistics. In this response to their paper, we clarify how, exactly, the two views differ (and how they do not), and make a case for the importance of sequential, as opposed to hierarchical, structure for language processing.