By recursion Chomsky means of the same component, which is potentially infinite. Hierachical and recursion is like the difference between regular expressions an

By recursion Chomsky means of the same component, which is potentially infinite. Hierachical and recursion is like the difference between regular expressions and context free grammars. Of course, in practice, most people struggle with just a few levels of recursion. So I'm not sure I agree with Chomsky - but that's his theory. BTW the grammar-related Piraha ideology of immediate experience is appealing, as theories and abstractions can obscure what's actually happening, and reminds me of DNA's ruler of the universe.