Top

Published in:

2022 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

Optimal Scheduling of the Leaves of a Tree and the SVO Frequencies of Languages

Authors : Christos H. Papadimitriou, Denis Turcu

Published in: Learning and Intelligent Optimization

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config

AI-assisted search

Off

Abstract

We define and study algorithmically a novel optimization problem related to the sequential scheduling of the leaves of a binary tree in a given order, and its generalization in which the optimum order is sought. We assume that the scheduling process starts at the root of the tree and continues breadth-first in parallel, albeit with possible intervening lock and unlock steps, which define the scheduling cost. The motivation for this problem comes from modeling language generation in the brain. We show that optimality considerations in this problem provide a new explanation for an intriguing phenomenon in linguistics, namely that certain ways of ordering the subject, verb, and object in a sentence are far more common in world languages than others.

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 102.000 Bücher
über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 390 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

next chapter From Design of Experiments to Combinatorics of Disasters: A Conceptual Framework for Disaster Exercises

Aitchison, J.: Word order universals. John A. Hawkins Quantitative Analysis of Linguistic Structure Series. Academic Press, New York, London, Sydney, 1983–1986. https://doi.org/10.1016/0024-3841(86)90039-2

Attwell, D., Laughlin, S.B.: An energy budget for signaling in the grey matter of the brain. J. Cerebral Blood Flow Metab. 21(10), 1133–1145 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1097/00004647-200110000-00001. pMID: 11598490

Buzsáki, G., Kaila, K., Raichle, M.: Inhibition and brain work Neuron 56(5), 771–83 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2007.11.008, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627307009270

Dryer, M.: Order of subject, object, and verb. In: Martin, H., Matthew S.D., David, G., Bernard, C. (eds.) The World Atlas Language Structures, chap. 81, pp. 330–333. Oxford University Press, Oxford (2005)

Dunn, M., Greenhill, S.J., Levinson, S.C., Gray, R.D.: Evolved structure of language shows lineage-specific trends in word-order universals. Nature 473(7345), 79–82 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature09923

Frankland, S.M., Greene, J.D.: Two ways to build a thought: distinct forms of compositional semantic representation across brain regions. Cereb. Cortex 30(6), 3838–3855 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhaa001

Friederici, A., Chomsky, N.: Language in Our Brain: the Origins of a Uniquely Human Capacity. The MIT Press (2017). https://books.google.com/books?id=MJg-DwAAQBAJ

Gell-Mann, M., Ruhlen, M.: The origin and evolution of word order. In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 108, no. 42, pp. 17290–17295 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1113716108, http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/main.cgi?flags=eygtnnl.Thisarticlecontainssupportinginformationonlineatwww.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1113716108/-/DCSupplemental.www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1113716108

Greenberg, J.: Some universals of grammar with particular reference to the order of meaningful elements. Tech. Rep. 40–70 (1963). http://lear.unive.it//handle/10278/3011

10.

Hammarström, H.: The Basic Word Order Typology: an Exhaustive Study. Tech. Rep. (2015)

11.

Huber, M., Consortium, T.A.: Order of subject, object, and verb. Atlas of Pidgin and Creole Language Structures Online, pp. 330–333 (2013). http://apics-online.info/parameters/1

12.

Jackson, G.M., Draper, A., Dyke, K., Pépés, S.E., Jackson, S.R.: Inhibition, disinhibition, and the control of action in tourette syndrome. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 19(11), 655–665 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2015.08.006, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364661315001837

13.

James, S.: Statistical Mechanics: Entropy, Order Parameters and Complexity. In: Oxford Master Series in Physics, OUP Oxford 14 (2006). https://ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/login?qurl=https

14.

Krupa, V.: Syntactic Typology and Linearization. Tech. Rep. 58(3), 639-645 (1982). https://doi.org/10.2307/413851

15.

Laughlin, S.B., de Ruyter van Steveninck, R.R., Anderson, J.C.: The metabolic cost of neural information. Nat. Neurosci. 1(1), 36–41 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/236, http://www.nature.com/articles/nn0598_36

16.

Letzkus, J., Wolff, S., Lüthi, A.: Disinhibition, a circuit mechanism for associative learning and memory. Neuron 88(2), 264–276 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2015.09.024, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627315008132

17.

Maurits, L.: Representation, information theory and basic word order. Tech. Rep. (2011)

18.

Maurits, L., Griffiths, T.L.: Tracing the roots of syntax with Bayesian phylogenetics. In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol 111, no. 37, pp. 13576–13581 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1319042111. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25192934/

19.

Maurits, L., Perfors, A., Navarro, D.: Why are some word orders more common than others? A Uniform Information Density account. Tech. rep., vol. 23, pp. 1585–1593(2010)

20.

Papadimitriou, C.H., Vempala, S.S., Mitropolsky, D., Collins, M., Maass, W.: Brain computation by assemblies of neurons. In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 117(25), 14464–14472 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2001893117, https://www.pnas.org/content/117/25/14464

21.

Papadimitriou, C.H., Yannakakis, M.: The traveling salesman problem with distances one and two. Math. Oper. Res. 18(1), 1–11 (1993). http://www.jstor.org/stable/3690150

22.

Tomlin, R.S.: Basic word order. Functional principles. No. 1, Cambridge University Press (CUP) (1988). https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022226700011646. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-linguistics/article/abs/russell-s-tomlin-basic-word-order-functional-principles-london-croom-helm-1986-pp-308/7542AFB4A8B28D651F6E109B810F4C04

Title: Optimal Scheduling of the Leaves of a Tree and the SVO Frequencies of Languages
Authors: Christos H. Papadimitriou
Denis Turcu
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Book: Learning and Intelligent Optimization
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-24865-8

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-031-24866-5

Copyright Year: 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-24866-5_1

Springer Professional

Abstract

Please log in to get access to your license.

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Springer Professional "Technik"

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Premium Partner