Are crossing dependencies really scarce?

DOI10.1016/J.PHYSA.2017.10.048zbMATH Open1504.05285arXiv1703.08324OpenAlexW2603928290MaRDI QIDQ2148382FDOQ2148382

Authors: Ramon Ferrer-i-Cancho, C. Gómez-Rodríguez, Juan Luis Esteban 

Publication date: 23 June 2022

Published in: Physica A (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: The syntactic structure of a sentence can be modelled as a tree, where vertices correspond to words and edges indicate syntactic dependencies. It has been claimed recurrently that the number of edge crossings in real sentences is small. However, a baseline or null hypothesis has been lacking. Here we quantify the amount of crossings of real sentences and compare it to the predictions of a series of baselines. We conclude that crossings are really scarce in real sentences. Their scarcity is unexpected by the hubiness of the trees. Indeed, real sentences are close to linear trees, where the potential number of crossings is maximized.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1703.08324

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zbMATH Keywords

crossingsbaselinesspatial networkssyntactic dependency trees

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Applications of graph theory (05C90) Small world graphs, complex networks (graph-theoretic aspects) (05C82)

Cites Work

• The Structure and Function of Complex Networks
• A critical point for random graphs with a given degree sequence
• Networks. An introduction.
• The Random Walk Construction of Uniform Spanning Trees and Uniform Labelled Trees
• The asymptotic number of labeled graphs with given degree sequences
• Complex networks. Structure, robustness and function.
• Constrained Markovian dynamics of random graphs
• Enumeration of noncrossing trees on a circle
• The scaling of the minimum sum of edge lengths in uniformly random trees
• Handbook of Linguistic Annotation

Cited In (3)

• Bounds of the sum of edge lengths in linear arrangements of trees
• Reappraising the distribution of the number of edge crossings of graphs on a sphere
• Edge crossings in random linear arrangements

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