Related papers: Pumping Lemma for Higher-order Languages
We study the computational complexity of finite intersections and finite unions of deterministic context-free (dcf) languages. Earlier, Wotschke [J. Comput. System Sci. 16 (1978) 456--461] demonstrated that intersections of $(d+1)$ dcf…
Tree-controlled grammars are context-free grammars where the derivation process is controlled in such a way that every word on a level of the derivation tree must belong to a certain control language. We investigate the generative capacity…
We study the question of whether a given regular language of finite trees can be defined in first-order logic. We develop an algebraic approach to address this question and we use it to derive several necessary and sufficient conditions for…
We consider a language together with the subword relation, the cover relation, and regular predicates. For such structures, we consider the extension of first-order logic by threshold- and modulo-counting quantifiers. Depending on the…
We present a new approach to formal language theory using Kolmogorov complexity. The main results presented here are an alternative for pumping lemma(s), a new characterization for regular languages, and a new method to separate…
We examine whether self-supervised language modeling applied to mathematical formulas enables logical reasoning. We suggest several logical reasoning tasks that can be used to evaluate language models trained on formal mathematical…
We characterize the infinite words determined by indexed languages. An infinite language $L$ determines an infinite word $\alpha$ if every string in $L$ is a prefix of $\alpha$. If $L$ is regular or context-free, it is known that $\alpha$…
We consider the problem of computing the measure of a regular language of infinite binary trees. While the general case remains unsolved, we show that the measure of a language defined by a first-order formula with no descendant relation or…
We show a new simple algorithm that checks whether a given higher-order grammar generates a nonempty language of trees. The algorithm amounts to a procedure that transforms a grammar of order n to a grammar of order n-1, preserving…
We show that if a context-free grammar generates a language whose lexicographic ordering is well-ordered of type less than $\omega^2$, then its order type is effectively computable.
We consider languages generated by weighted context-free grammars. It is shown that the behaviour of large texts is controlled by saddle-point equations for an appropriate generating function. We then consider ensembles of grammars, in…
We study languages and formal power series associated to (variants of) Hammersley's process. We show that the ordinary Hammersley process yields a regular language and the Hammersley tree process yields deterministic context-free (but…
In this paper, we introduce the notion of a grammatical labeling to describe a recursive process of generating combinatorial objects based on a context-free grammar. For example, by labeling the ascents and descents of a Stirling…
The set of finite words over a well-quasi-ordered set is itself well-quasi-ordered. This seminal result by Higman is a cornerstone of the theory of well-quasi-orderings and has found numerous applications in computer science. However, this…
These lecture notes are intended as a supplement to Moore and Mertens' The Nature of Computation or as a standalone resource, and are available to anyone who wants to use them. Comments are welcome, and please let me know if you use these…
The HOM-problem, which asks whether the image of a regular tree language under a tree homomorphism is again regular, is known to be decidable. Since then, weighted versions of this problem for different semirings have also been…
The regular languages with a neutral letter expressible in first-order logic with one alternation are characterized. Specifically, it is shown that if an arbitrary $\Sigma_2$ formula defines a regular language with a neutral letter, then…
Most languages use the relative order between words to encode meaning relations. Languages differ, however, in what orders they use and how these orders are mapped onto different meanings. We test the hypothesis that, despite these…
We study tree languages that can be defined in \Delta_2 . These are tree languages definable by a first-order formula whose quantifier prefix is forall exists, and simultaneously by a first-order formula whose quantifier prefix is . For the…
In this paper, we continue the research on the power of contextual grammars with selection languages from subfamilies of the family of regular languages. In the past, two independent hierarchies have been obtained for external and internal…