Consider a system of language equations of the form Xi= φi( X1,..., Xn)(1in), where every φi may contain the operations of concatenation and complementation. These systems have been studied in "Language equations with complementation: Decision problems" [A. Okhotin, O. Yakimova, Theoretical Computer Science 376 (2007) 112126]. This paper investigates the family of languages representable by unique solutions of such systems. A method for proving nonrepresentability of particular languages is developed. Several natural subfamilies of this family are compared to each other and to the main known families of formal languages. Their position in the hierarchy is established.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)71-86
Number of pages16
JournalTheoretical Computer Science
Volume416
DOIs
StatePublished - 27 Jan 2012

    Research areas

  • Boolean grammars, Complementation, Context-free grammars, Language equations, Negation

    Scopus subject areas

  • Theoretical Computer Science
  • Computer Science(all)

ID: 41140000