Classical logics for attribute-value languages

Abstract

This paper describes a classical logic for attribute-value (or feature description) languages which are used in unification grammar to describe a certain kind of linguistic object commonly called attribute-value structure (or feature structure). The algorithm which is used for deciding satisfiability of a feature description is based on a restricted deductive closure construction for sets of literals (atomic formulas and negated atomic formulas). In contrast to the Kasper/Rounds approach (cf. [Kasper/Rounds 90]), we can handle cyclicity, without the need for the introduction of complexity norms, as in [Johnson 88] and [Beierle/Pletat 88]. The deductive closure construction is the direct proof-theoretic correlate of the congruence closure algorithm (cf. [Nelson/Oppen 80]), if it were used in attribute-value languages for testing satisfiability of finite sets of literals.