Abstract
This paper argues that the theory of phrase structure a certain linguistic
approach assumes implies taking a stance on the formal nature of the computational
procedures that generate that phrase structure. We will proceed by critically
evaluating theories of phrase structure and labeling -which implies taking a
structure as a unit for the purposes of further computations-, and building on
and opposing to the proposals we review, we will claim that syntactic objects are
not computationally uniform, and therefore the computational system in charge of
establishing dependencies between symbolic objects within the mind is not uniform
as well. We argue in favor of a linguistic-cognitive model which dynamically
chooses different grammars based on the complexity of the input, and is capable
of assigning a mixed phrase marker to an object that presents more than one
computational pattern. Empirical evidence is provided in favor of our approach to
phrase structure building, and further implications for a theory of labeling and
predication are discussed as prolegomena to further research.