Origin and Motivation

Abstract

The paper [102], where S. Marcus introduced the contextual grammars in their external variant, starts abruptly by definitions, without any motivation of the concept. Yet an implicit motivation is present, because these new generative devices were placed in the framework of other non-Chomskian grammars with their roots in descriptive linguistics. In particular, the power of contextual grammars is compared with the power of the so-called neighborhood grammars of Ju. A. Sreider, [213], and the grammars of contexts, of Ja. P. L. Vasilevskii and M. V. Chomjakov; references can be found in [11]. Being illustrative of (some of) the current topics in the linguistic research at that time, we recall here, from [102], the definitions of these types of grammars.