Abstract Domains play an integral role in linguistic theories. This paper combines locality domains with current work on the computational complexity of phonology. The first result is that if a specific formalism —- Strictly Piecewise (SP) grammars —- is supplemented with a mechanism to enforce first-order definable domain restrictions, its power increases so much that it subsumes almost the full hierarchy of subregular languages. However, if domain restrictions are based on linguistically natural intervals, one instead obtains an empirically more adequate model. On the on hand, this model subsumes only those subregular classes that have been argued to be relevant for phonotactic generalizations. On the other hand, it excludes unnatural generalizations that involve counting or elaborate conditionals. It is also shown that SP grammars with interval-based domains are theoretically learnable unlike SP grammars with arbitrary, first-order domains.

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Computational Parallels Across Language Modules

Mon 12 September 2016 | in Presentations |
| phonology | morphology | syntax | subregular hierarchy | formal language theory | tiers | locality | typology |

Graf, Thomas

Abstract Linguists study a variety of aspects of language, including phonology, morphology, and syntax. It is commonly believed that those are distinct modules of language, governed by very different principles and consequently studied with very different tools. While there have been attempts at …
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Morphotactics as Tier-Based Strictly Local Dependencies

Thu 11 August 2016 | in Presentations |
| morphology | subregular hierarchy | formal language theory | tiers | locality | typology | English | German | Russian | Swahili | Ilocano |

Aksënova, Alëna, Thomas Graf, and Sedigheh Moradi

Abstract It is commonly accepted that morphological dependencies are finite-state in nature. We argue that the upper bound on morphological expressivity is much lower. Drawing on technical results from computational phonology, we show that a variety of morphotactic …
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Morphotactics as Tier-Based Strictly Local Dependencies

Wed 27 July 2016 | in Papers |
| morphology | subregular hierarchy | formal language theory | tiers | locality | typology | English | German | Russian | Swahili | Ilocano |

Aksënova, Alëna, Thomas Graf, and Sedigheh Moradi

Abstract It is commonly accepted that morphological dependencies are finite-state in nature. We argue that the upper bound on morphological expressivity is much lower. Drawing on technical results from computational phonology, we show that a variety of morphotactic …
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Beyond the Apparent: Cognitive Parallels Between Syntax and Phonology

Wed 01 January 2014 | in Papers |
| phonology | syntax | subregular hierarchy | formal language theory | cognitive architecture | automata |

Graf, Thomas

Abstract One of the central changes in 20th century linguistics was the reconceptualization of language as a cognitive ability rather than merely an abstract relational system of signs —- in the terminology of Chomsky (1986), the move from E-language to I-language. This shift entails …
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Computational Computational Linguistics

Graf, Thomas

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@Misc{Graf13StonyBrookCogScitalk,
  author    = {Graf, Thomas},
  title     = {Computational Computational Linguistics},
  year      = {2013},
  note      = {Invited talk, December 4, Department of Psychology, Stony
          Brook University, Stony Brook, NY}
}

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