Almost four decades have passed since "Formal Grammars "first appeared in 1974. At that time it was still possible to rather comprehensively review for (psycho)linguists the relevant literature on the theory of formal languages and automata, on their applications in linguistic theory and in the psychology of language. That is no longer feasible. In all three areas developments have been substantial, if not breathtaking. Nowadays, an interested linguist or psycholinguist opening any text on formal languages can no longer see the wood for the trees, as it is by no means evident which formal, mathematical tools are really required for natural language applications. An historical perspective can be helpful here. There are paths through the wood that have been beaten since decades; they can still provide useful orientation. The origins of these paths can be traced in the three volumes of "Formal Grammars," brought together in the present re-edition. In a newly added postscript the author has sketched what has become, after all these years, of formal grammars in linguistics and psycholinguistics, or at least some of the core developments. This chapter may provide further motivation for the reader to make a trip back to some of the historical sources.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Formal Grammar 2009, held in Bordeaux, France, in July 2009. The 13 revised full papers presented, including two invited talks, were carefully reviewed and selected from 26 submissions. These articles in this book give an overview of new and original research on formal grammar, mathematical linguistics and the application of formal and mathematical methods to the study of natural language.

The second volume in the Vancouver Studies in Cognitive Science series, this collection presents recent work in the fields of phonology, morphology, semantics, and neurolinguistics. Its overall theme is the relationship between the contents of grammatical formalisms and their real-time realizations in machine or biological systems. Individual essays address such topics as learnability, implementability, computational issues, parameter setting, and neurolinguistic issues. Contributors include Janet Dean Fodor, Richard T. Oehrle, Bob Carpenter, Edward P. Stabler, Elan Dresher, Arnold Zwicky, Mary-Louis Kean, and Lewis P. Shapiro.

Edited in collaboration with FoLLI, the Association of Logic, Language and Information, this book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 24th International Conference on Formal Grammar, FG 2019, held in Riga, Latvia, in August 2019, in conjunction with the 31st European Summer School in Logic, Language and Information, ESSLI 2019. The 7 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 11 submissions. They present new and original research on formal grammar, mathematical linguistics, and the application of formal and mathematical methods to the study of natural language and focus on topics such as formal and computational phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics; model-theoretic and proof-theoretic methods in linguistics; logical aspects of linguistic structure; constraint-based and resource-sensitive approaches to grammar; learnability of formal grammar; integration of stochastic and symbolic models of grammar; foundational, methodological, and architectural issues in grammar and linguistics; and mathematical foundations of statistical approaches to linguistic analysis.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 17th and 18th International Conference on Formal Grammar 2012 and 2013, collocated with the European Summer School in Logic, Language and Information in August 2012/2013. The 18 revised full papers were carefully reviewed and selected from a total of 27 submissions. The focus of papers are as follows: formal and computational phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics; model-theoretic and proof-theoretic methods in linguistics; logical aspects of linguistic structure; constraint-based and resource-sensitive approaches to grammar; learnability of formal grammar; integration of stochastic and symbolic models of grammar; foundational, methodological and architectural issues in grammar and linguistics, and mathematical foundations of statistical approaches to linguistic analysis.

This volume draws together fourteen previously published papers which explore the nature of mental grammar through a formal, generative approach. The book begins by outlining the development of formal grammar in the last fifty years, with a particular focus on the work of Noam Chomsky, and moves into an examination of a diverse set of phenomena in various languages that shed light on theory and model construction. Many of the papers focus on comparisons between English and Norwegian, highlighting the importance of comparative approaches to the study of language. With a comprehensive collection of papers that demonstrate the richness of formal approaches, this volume is key reading for students and scholars interested in the study of grammar.

The present text is a re-edition of Volume I of Formal Grammars in Linguistics and Psycholinguistics, a three-volume work published in 1974. This volume is an entirely self-contained introduction to the theory of formal grammars and automata, which hasn't lost any of its relevance. Of course, major new developments have seen the light since this introduction was first published, but it still provides the indispensible basic notions from which later work proceeded. The author's reasons for writing this text are still relevant: an introduction that does not suppose an acquaintance with sophisticated mathematical theories and methods, that is intended specifically for linguists and psycholinguists (thus including such topics as learnability and probabilistic grammars), and that provides students of language with a reference text for the basic notions in the theory of formal grammars and automata, as they keep being referred to in linguistic and psycholinguistic publications; the subject index of this introduction can be used to find definitions of a wide range of technical terms. An appendix has been added with further references to some of the core new developments since this book originally appeared.