量化上下文无关语言的代数性质

通过引入量化下推自动机与量化上下文无关文法的定义,研究了以两种不同方式接受语言的量化下推自动机等价性问题,证明了在可交换的双幺赋值幺半群上,量化下推自动机接受的语言与量化上下文无关文法生成的语言相同。     

格值下推自动机与格值上下文无关文法

引入了格值下推自动机、格值上下文无关文法及它们的语言的概念,证明了格值下推自动机以两种不同方式接受的语言类的等价性,研究了格值Chomsky范式文法、格值上下文无关文法及其派生所产生的语言的等价条件,揭示了在一定条件下,格值下推自动机接受的语言类与格值上下文无关文法产生的语言类的等价性,证明了有理格值语言均被格值下推自动机识别。     

Spinal-Formed Context-Free Tree Grammars

In this paper we introduce a restricted model of context-free tree grammars called spine grammars, and study their formal properties including considerably simple normal forms. Recent research on natural languages has suggested that formalisms for natural languages need to generate a slightly larger class of languages than context-free grammars, and for that reason tree adjoining grammars have been widely studied relating them to natural languages. It is shown that the class of string languages generated by spine grammars coincides with that of tree adjoining grammars. We also introduce acceptors called linear pushdown tree automata, and show that linear pushdown tree automata accept exactly the class of tree languages generated by spine grammars. Linear pushdown tree automata are obtained from pushdown tree automata with a restriction on duplicability for the pushdown stacks. Received May 29, 1998, and in revised form April 27, 1999, and in final form May 10, 1999.     

Formes de langages et de grammaires

Summary This paper is devoted to the study of context-free languages over infinite alphabets. This work can be viewed as a new attempt to study families of grammars, replacing the usual grammar forms and giving a new point of view on these questions. A language over an infinite alphabet or I-language appears as being a model for a family of usual languages; an interpretation is an homomorphism from the infinite alphabet to any finite alphabet. Using this notion of interpretation we can associate to each family of I-languages an image, called its shadow, which is a family of usual languages.The closure properties of families, generalizing to infinite alphabets the family of context-free languages, lead to define rational transductions between infinite alphabets or I-transductions, and then, families of I-languages closed under I-transductions, or I-cones. We study here relations between the closure properties of a family of I-languages and these of its shadow. As a result, we obtain that any union closed rational cone of context-free languages, principal or not, is the shadow of a principal I-cone.This work leads to new results about the classical theory of context-free languages. For instance, we prove that any principal rational cone of context-free languages can be generated by a context-free language, whose grammar has only 6 variables. This work also leads to more general considerations about the adequacy of some generating devices to the generated languages. It appears that the context-free grammars are fair, in a sense that we define, for generating context-free languages but that non-expansive context-free grammars are not for generating non-expansive context-free languages. This point of view raises a number of questions.     

A NEW AUTOMATON MODEL FOR TAGS: 2-SA

In this paper, we introduce and define a new class of automata (pushdown automata with n stacks, abbreviated as n-SA). The ultimate aim is to give a new characterization of LCRFL, the class of languages accepted by a linear context-free rewriting system (LCFRS). In particular, we introduce 2-SA as a new automaton model for tree-adjoining grammars (TAG). In the simplest cases (0-SA and 1-SA), the languages that are accepted by the automata are the regular and context-free languages respectively. A more complex case is the case of a 2-SA which accepts TALs. The n-SA creates an infinite hierarchy of languages and it seems that this hierarchy corresponds to others in the class LCFRL. The 2-SA corresponds closely to the EPDA (embedded pushdown automaton, an automaton model equivalent to TAGs). Unlike the EPDA, which allows push operations "below the top stack," an n-SA allows push and pop operations only on the top of their (multiple) stacks. So n-SA trade simpler operations against an also simpler but expanded storage structure.     

Reversible pushdown automata

Reversible pushdown automata are deterministic pushdown automata that are also backward deterministic. Therefore, they have the property that any configuration occurring in any computation has exactly one predecessor. In this paper, the computational capacity of reversible computations in pushdown automata is investigated and turns out to lie properly in between the regular and deterministic context-free languages. Furthermore, it is shown that a deterministic context-free language cannot be accepted reversibly if more than realtime is necessary for acceptance. Closure properties as well as decidability questions for reversible pushdown automata are studied. Finally, we show that the problem to decide whether a given nondeterministic or deterministic pushdown automaton is reversible is P-complete, whereas it is undecidable whether the language accepted by a given nondeterministic pushdown automaton is reversible.     

An algebraic characterization of some principal regulated rational cones

The aim of this paper is to deal with formal power series over a commutative semiring A. Generalizing Wechler's pushdown automata and pushdown transition matrices yields a characterization of the A-semi-algebraic power series in terms of acceptance by pushdown automata. Principal regulated rational cones generated by cone generators of a certain form are characterized by algebraic systems given in certain matrix form. This yields a characterization of some principal full semi-AFL's in terms of context-free grammars. As an application of the theory, the principal regulated rational cone of one-counter “languages” is considered.     

Morphismes et bimorphismes d'arbres

For every pair of positive integers n and p, there is a language accepted by a real-time deterministic pushdown automaton with n states and p stack symbols and size O(np), for which every context-free grammar needs at least n²p+1 nonterminals if n>1 (or p non-terminals if n = 1). It follows that there are context-free languages which can be recognized by pushdown automata of size O(np), but which cannot be generated by context-free grammars of size smaller than O(n²p); and that the standard construction for converting a pushdown automaton to a context-free grammar is optimal in the sense that it infinitely often produces grammars with the fewest number of nonterminals possible.     

Look-ahead on pushdowns

The general notion of look-ahead on pushdowns is used to prove that (1) the deterministic iterated pushdown languages are closed under complementation, (2) the deterministic iterated pushdown languages are properly included in the non-deterministic iterated pushdown languages; the counter example is a very simple linear context-free language, independent of the amount of iteration, (3) LL(k) iterated indexed grammars can be parsed by deterministic iterated pushdown automata, and (4) it is decidable whether an iterated indexed grammar is LL(k). Analogous results hold for iterated pushdown automata with regular look-ahead on the input, and LL-regular iterated indexed grammars.     

A mechanisation of some context-free language theory in HOL4

We describe the mechanisation of some foundational results in the theory of context-free languages (CFLs), using the HOL4 system. We focus on pushdown automata (PDAs). We show that two standard acceptance criteria for PDAs (“accept-by-empty-stack” and “accept-by-final-state”) are equivalent in power. We are then able to show that the pushdown automata (PDAs) and context-free grammars (CFGs) accept the same languages by showing that each can emulate the other. With both of these models to hand, we can then show a number of basic, but important results. For example, we prove the basic closure properties of the context-free languages such as union and concatenation. Along the way, we also discuss the varying extent to which textbook proofs (we follow Hopcroft and Ullman) and our mechanisations diverge: sometimes elegant textbook proofs remain elegant in HOL; sometimes the required mechanisation effort blows up unconscionably.     

A result about languages concerning paperfolding sequences

Cobham stated that sequences over a finite alphabet can be generated by anr-substitution if and only if they arer-automatic. Those sequences linked with automata as well as with substitutions may nevertheless possess sets of subwords which are, if interpreted as languages, not even context-free. This result is obtained by a study of the properties of paperfolding sequences. It is shown that any context-free set consisting of subwords of paperfolding sequences is finite.     

Stochastic grammars and languages

This paper summarizes some recent results concerned with the extension of formal languages to their corresponding stochastic versions. Weighted grammars and languages are first defined, and stochastic grammars and languages are defined as a special case of weighted grammars and languages. Fuzzy grammars and languages, which have some properties similar to weighted grammars and languages, are also discussed. Stochastic automata are defined from the language recognition viewpoint. Languages accepted by stochastic finite-state and pushdown automata, with and without a cutpoint, are studied. Weighted and stochastic programmed and indexed grammars, and stochastic nested stack automata are defined. Finally, some decidability problems of stochastic (weighted, fuzzy) languages are discussed, and problems for further research are suggested.This work was supported by the National Science Foundation Grant GK-18225.     

Probabilistic context-free grammars estimated from infinite distributions

In this paper, we consider probabilistic context-free grammars, a class of generative devices that has been successfully exploited in several applications of syntactic pattern matching, especially in statistical natural language parsing. We investigate the problem of training probabilistic context-free grammars on the basis of distributions defined over an infinite set of trees or an infinite set of sentences by minimizing the cross-entropy. This problem has applications in cases of context-free approximation of distributions generated by more expressive statistical models. We show several interesting theoretical properties of probabilistic context-free grammars that are estimated in this way, including the previously unknown equivalence between the grammar cross-entropy with the input distribution and the so-called derivational entropy of the grammar itself. We discuss important consequences of these results involving the standard application of the maximum-likelihood estimator on finite tree and sentence samples, as well as other finite-state models such as hidden Markov models and probabilistic finite automata.     

Controlled finite automata

This paper discusses finite automata regulated by control languages over their states and transition rules. It proves that under both regulations, regular-controlled finite automata and context-free-controlled finite automata characterize the family of regular languages and the family of context-free languages, respectively. It also establishes conditions under which any state-controlled finite automaton can be turned into an equivalent transition-controlled finite automaton and vice versa. The paper also demonstrates a close relation between these automata and programmed grammars. Indeed, it proves that finite automata controlled by languages generated by propagating programmed grammars with appearance checking are computationally complete. In fact, it demonstrates that this computational completeness holds even in terms of these automata with a reduced number of states.     

Conjunctive grammars and alternating pushdown automata

In this paper we introduce a variant of alternating pushdown automata, synchronized alternating pushdown automata, which accept the same class of languages as those generated by conjunctive grammars.     

Conjunctive Grammars over a Unary Alphabet: Undecidability and Unbounded Growth

It has recently been proved (Je?, DLT 2007) that conjunctive grammars (that is, context-free grammars augmented by conjunction) generate some non-regular languages over a one-letter alphabet. The present paper improves this result by constructing conjunctive grammars for a larger class of unary languages. The results imply undecidability of a number of decision problems of unary conjunctive grammars, as well as non-existence of a recursive function bounding the growth rate of the generated languages. An essential step of the argument is a simulation of a cellular automaton recognizing positional notation of numbers using language equations.     

Model checking probabilistic systems against pushdown specifications

Model checking is a fully automatic verification technique traditionally used to verify finite-state systems against regular specifications. Although regular specifications have been proven to be feasible in practice, many desirable specifications are non-regular. For instance, requirements which involve counting cannot be formalized by regular specifications but using pushdown specifications, i.e., context-free properties represented by pushdown automata. Research on model-checking techniques for pushdown specifications is, however, rare and limited to the verification of non-probabilistic systems.In this paper, we address the probabilistic model-checking problem for systems modeled by discrete-time Markov chains and specifications that are provided by deterministic pushdown automata over infinite words. We first consider finite-state Markov chains and show that the quantitative and qualitative model-checking problem is solvable via a product construction and techniques that are known for the verification of probabilistic pushdown automata. Then, we consider recursive systems modeled by probabilistic pushdown automata with an infinite-state Markov chain semantics. We first show that imposing appropriate compatibility (visibility) restrictions on the synchronizations between the pushdown automaton for the system and the specification, decidability of the probabilistic model-checking problem can be established. Finally we prove that slightly departing from this compatibility assumption leads to the undecidability of the probabilistic model-checking problem, even for qualitative properties specified by deterministic context-free specifications.     

Petri net algorithms in the theory of matrix grammars

This paper shows that the languages over a one-letter alphabet generated by context-free matrix grammars are always regular. Moreover we give a decision procedure for the question of whether a context-free matrix language is finite. Hereby we strengthen a result of [Mk 92] and settle a number of open questions in [DP 89]. Both results are obtained by a reduction to Petri net problems.     

Formal Languages: Origins and Directions

Origins of the theory of formal languages and automata are surveyed starting from 1936 with the work of Turing and Post. Special attention is given to the machine translation projects of the 1950s and early 1960s and associated work in mathematical linguistics. The development of the Chomsky hierarchy of grammars, machines, and languages from 1956 to 1964 is traced. It is observed that the same important ideas emerged independently for the automatic analysis and translation of both natural and artificial languages. Since 1964, formal language theory is part of theoretical computer science. A few of the directions since 1964 are considered: restrictions and extensions of context-free grammars and pushdown store automata, unifying frameworks, and complexity questions.     

LL(k)-PARSING OF COUPLED-CONTEXT-FREE GRAMMARS

Coupled-context-free grammars are a natural generalization of context-free grammars obtained by combining nonterminals to corresponding parentheses which can only be substituted simultaneously. Refering to the generative capacity of the grammars we obtain an infinite hierarchy of languages that comprises the context-free languages as the first and all the languages generated by TAGs as the second element. Here, we present a generalization of the context-free LL(k) -notion onto coupled-context-free grammars, which leads to a characterization of subclasses of coupled-context-free grammars–and in this way of TAGs as well–which can be parsed in linear time. The parsing procedure described works incrementally so that it can be used for on-line parsing of natural language. Examples show that important elements of the tree-adjoining languages can be generated by LL(k )-coupled-context-free grammars.