Nondeterministic functional transducer inference algorithm

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present an algorithm for inferring nondeterministic functional transducers. It has a lot in common with other well known algorithms such has RPNI and OSTIA. Indeed we will argue that this algorithm is a generalisation of both of them. Functional transducers are all those nondeterministic transducers whose regular relation is a function. Epsilon transitions as well as subsequential output can be erased for such machines, with the exception of output for empty string being lost. Learning partial functional transducers from negative examples is equivalent to learning total from positive-only data.