Language-Theoretic and Finite Relation Models for the (Full) Lambek Calculus

Abstract

We prove completeness for some language-theoretic models of the full Lambek calculus and its various fragments. First we consider syntactic concepts and syntactic concepts over regular languages, which provide a complete semantics for the full Lambek calculus $${\mathbf {FL}}_\perp $$FLź. We present a new semantics we call automata-theoretic, which combines languages and relations via closure operators which are based on automaton transitions. We establish the completeness of this semantics for the full Lambek calculus via an isomorphism theorem for the syntactic concepts lattice of a language and a construction for the universal automaton recognizing the same language. Finally, we use automata-theoretic semantics to prove completeness of relation models of binary relations and finite relation models for the Lambek calculus without and with empty antecedents (henceforth: $$\mathbf L $$L and $$\mathbf L1 $$L1), thus solving a problem left open by Pentus (Ann Pure Appl Log 75:179---213, 1995).