Generalizing dependency distance: Comment on “Dependency distance: A new perspective on syntactic patterns in natural languages” by Haitao Liu et al.

With the support of the comprehensive review in Liu et al. [14], we consider dependency distance minimization to be firmly established as a quantitative property of syntactic trees. In this comment, we consider future empirical and theoretical directions for this concept, including a recent information-theoretic reinterpretation of dependency locality effects as proposed by Futrell and Levy [4].     

DDM at Work: Reply to comments on “Dependency distance: A new perspective on syntactic patterns in natural languages”

We provide responses to the commentaries in this volume to evaluate, clarify and extend some of the arguments in Dependency distance: A new perspective on syntactic patterns in natural languages. Evidences show that DDM (dependency distance minimization) is an important linguistic universal, biologically or cognitively motivated, in shaping the language system. As a general tendency, DDM works quite well in theoretical argumentations as well as practical applications. However, this does not mean that DDM is the only linguistic universal that works: it is highly possible that other factors, which might be biologically, physically, socially or culturally motivated, work as well to jointly mold languages.     

Comment on “On the quantum Zeno effect” by Nakazato et al.

Recently, using a specific example involving neutron spin, Nakazato et al. [Phys. Lett A 199 (1995) 27] argued that the uncertainty principle would impose a remarkable limitation on the mathematical limit involved in the quantum Zeno effect. In this paper we show that it is impossible for Nakazato et al. to obtain this limitation by the uncertainty relation, because an unsuitable assumption has been used in their deduction process.     

Comment on “On the Barut-Vigier model of the hydrogen atom” by Samsonenko et al.

Contrary to the claim of Samsonenko, Tahti and Ndahayo [Phys. Lett. A 220 (1996) 297], it is found that the ground state energy for a hydrogen atom in the Barut-Vigier potential is E = 13.6 eV.