Natural Language Grammars Research Articles

Predicates definable over transformational derivations by intersection with regular languages

The main result of this paper is that a regular-based transformational grammar which meets the condition on recoverability of deletions and which uses filter and postcyclic transformations can generate any recursively enumerable language. From this follows immediately that context free or context sensitive based transformational grammars which meet the condition on recoverability of deletions and which use filter and postcyclic transformations can generate any recursively enumerable language. These problems are investigated with a view to their implications for the current framework of transformational theory of grammars of natural languages.

On the Problem of Describing the Grammar of Natural Languages

Difficulties encountered in an attempt to describe the syntax of English determiner phrases resulted in a reconsideration of the purpose and organizational principles of grammatical descriptions. Some illumination of the nature of grammatical descriptions is obtained by a consideration of systems of chess-notation. Problems of grammatical description discussed with reference to two specific examples of chess-notations include: (1) The problem of describing the" basic regularities " which determine how the sentences of a language are understood; (2) The problem of translating between two languages with the same " universe of discourse " but with different ways of referring to it ; (3) The problem of explaining the intuitive notion of " grammaticality "which native users of a language possess. The importance, for a useful language description, of describing the" semantic interpretation " process is illustrated and emphasized, and the value of language descriptions in the form of generative grammars is questioned.