Recursion in cognition: a computational investigation into the representation and processing of language

Identifier:  TDX:1066

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TDX1066

Authors:  Lobina Bona, David James

Abstract:
Recursion qua self-reference applies to various constructs within the cognitive sciences, such as theoretical definitions, mechanical procedures (or algorithms), (abstract or real-time) computational processes and structures. Recursion is an intrinsic property of both the mechanical procedure underlying the language faculty and the structures this faculty generates. However, the recursive nature of the generated structures and the recursive character of the processes need to be kept distinct, their study meriting individual treatment. In fact, the nature of both the syntactic derivations of the grammar (an abstract computational process) and the processing strategies of the parser (a real-time process) are iterative, which suggests that recursively-defined algorithms are implemented iteratively in linguistic cognition. Furthermore, the combination of recursion, lexical items and the impositions of the interfaces the language faculty interacts with results in a sui generis set of structures with which other domains of the mind bear the most superficial of relations.