A Pumping Lemma for Permitting Semi-Conditional Languages

Abstract

Permitting semi-conditional grammars (pSCGs) are extensions of context-free grammars where each rule is associated with a word [Formula: see text] and such a rule can be applied to a sentential form [Formula: see text] only if [Formula: see text] is a subword of [Formula: see text]. We consider permitting generalized SCGs (pgSCGs) where each rule [Formula: see text] is associated with a set of words [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] is applicable only if every word in [Formula: see text] occurs in [Formula: see text]. We investigate the generative power of pgSCGs with no erasing rules and prove a pumping lemma for their languages. Using this lemma we show that pgSCGs are strictly weaker than context-sensitive grammars. This solves a long-lasting open problem concerning the generative power of pSCGs. Moreover, we give a comparison of the generating power of pgSCGs and that of forbidding random context grammars with no erasing rules.