automaton (n.), plural automata

A term taken from mathematics, where it refers to the FORMALIZATION of a set of rules for a computation, and used in theoretical and computational LINGUISTICS as part of the frame of reference for classifying languages which can be formally GENERATED. Automata (such as computers) can be modelled in abstract terms as a series of inputs, outputs, states, and rules of operation. They typically perform operations on an input tape by moving through a series of ‘states’ (or ‘configurations’), each state being linked to the next by a ‘transition function’. The most general automata are known as ‘Turing machines’ (named after British mathematician Alan Mathison Turing (1912–54), who in 1936 devised a logical machine which defined computable numbers by working in this way). The most restricted kinds of automata are finite automata (also called ‘Markov sources’ or ‘simple TRANSITION NETWORKS’), which consist of a finite number of states and state-transitions, and an input tape which can be read only in one direction, one symbol at a time. FINITE-STATE LANGUAGES can be recognized by finite state automata.