On the generating power of regularly controlled bidirection grammars

RCB-grammars or regularly controlled bidirectional grammars are context-free grammars of which the rules can be used in a productive and in a reductive fashion. In addition, the application of these\ud rules is controlled by a regular language. Several modes of derivation can be distinguished for this kind of grammar. In this paper the generating power of the derivation mode that uses right-occurrence rewriting (RO-mode) is determined. Furthermore, a new mode called RA is introduced, which is a better formalization of the intuitive idea of rightoccurrence rewriting than the RO-mode. The RO- and RA-mode have the same generating power, viz. the corresponding RCB-grammars both generate the recursively enumerable languages. Consequently, providing RCB/RO-grammars with a time bound results in a less powerful grammar model

On the Generating Power of Regularly Controlled Bidirectional Grammars

RCB-grammars or regularly controlled bidirectional grammars are context-free grammars of which the rules can be used in a productive and in a reductive fashion. In addition, the application of these rules is controlled by a regular language. Several modes of derivation can be distinguished for this kind of grammar. In this paper the generating power of the derivation mode that uses right-occurrence rewriting (RO-mode) is determined. Furthermore, a new mode called RA is introduced, which is a better formalization of the intuitive idea of right-occurrence rewriting than the RO-mode. The RO- and RA-mode have the same generating power, viz. the corresponding RCB-grammars both generate the recursively enumerable languages. Consequently, providing RCB/RO-grammars with a time bound results in a less powerful grammar model

Phrase structure grammars as indicative of uniquely human thoughts

I argue that the ability to compute phrase structure grammars is indicative of a particular kind of thought. This type of thought that is only available to cognitive systems that have access to the computations that allow the generation and interpretation of the structural descriptions of phrase structure grammars. The study of phrase structure grammars, and formal language theory in general, is thus indispensable to studies of human cognition, for it makes explicit both the unique type of human thought and the underlying mechanisms in virtue of which this thought is made possible

Controlled Rewriting Using Productions and Reductions

We investigate context-free grammars the rules of which can be used in a productive and in a reductive fashion, while the application of these rules is controlled by a regular language. We distinguish several modes of derivation for this kind of grammar. The resulting language families (properly) extend the family of context-free languages. We establish some closure properties of these language families and some grammatical transformations which yield a few normal forms for this type of grammar. Finally, we consider some special cases (viz. the context-free grammar is linear or left-linear), and generalizations, in particular, the use of arbitrary rather than regular control languages

Controlled Bidirectional Grammars

We investigate context-free grammars the rules of which can be used in a productive and in a reductive fashion, while the application of these rules is controlled by a regular language. We distinguish several modes of derivation for this kind of grammar. The resulting language families (properly) extend the family of context-free languages. We establish some closure properties of these language families and some grammatical transformations which yield a few normal forms for this type of grammar. Finally, we consider some special cases (viz. the context-free grammar is linear or left-linear), and generalizations, in particular, the use of arbitrary rather than regular control languages

Capacity Bounded Grammars and Petri Nets

A capacity bounded grammar is a grammar whose derivations are restricted by assigning a bound to the number of every nonterminal symbol in the sentential forms. In the paper the generative power and closure properties of capacity bounded grammars and their Petri net controlled counterparts are investigated