The Finiteness of Natural Language

Abstract

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.