The Finiteness of Natural Language
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2888562 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Peter A Reich, Peter Reich (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1969 |
| Volume | 45 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 831 |
| Publication date | 1969-12-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Language (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0097-8507 • E-ISSN: 1535-0665 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/412337 |
| OpenAlex | W1980187498 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 21 |
| References cited | 4 |
Fallacious reasoning has led transformationalists to conclude that natural language cannot be produced by a finite state device. An alternate argument is proposed, based on a distinction between two types of generative mechanisms: iteration and recursion to a depth of one. A device which employs these mechanisms is a finite state device; and this paper contends that such a device is adequate to describe the data of natural language, including English embedded relative clauses. The proposed solution also handles multiple-branching constructions such as are found in coordination, and describes the intonation pattern of sentences containing strings of relative clauses
Archaeology · Linguistics · Natural (archaeology) · Natural language · Natural language processing · Computer Science · History · Language and cultural evolution · Mathematics · Natural Language Processing Techniques · Philosophy · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation
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What Is a Story
| Citations per year | 0.38 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1970 - 2020 (51) |
| Highly cited | No |