Although considerable interest has been shown in language inference and automata induction using recurrent neural networks, success of these models has mostly been limited to regular languages. We have previ(cid:173) ously demonstrated that Neural Network Pushdown Automaton (NNPDA) model is capable of learning deterministic context-free languages (e.g., anbn and parenthesis languages) from examples. However, the learning task is computationally intensive. In this paper we discus some ways in which a priori knowledge about the task and data could be used for efficient learning. We also observe that such knowledge is often an experimental prerequisite for learning nontrivial languages (eg.

Language inference and automata induction using recurrent neural networks has gained considerable interest in the recent years. Nevertheless, success of these models has been mostly limited to regular languages. Additional information in form of a priori knowledge has proved important and at times necessary for learning complex languages (Abu-Mostafa 1990; AI-Mashouq and Reed, 1991; Omlin and Giles, 1992; Towell, 1990). They have demonstrated that partial information incorporated in a connectionist model guides the learning process through constraints for efficient learning and better generalization. 'Ve have previously shown that the NNPDA model can learn Deterministic Context 65 66 Das, Giles, and Sun

Language inference and automata induction using recurrent neural networks has gained considerable interest in the recent years. Nevertheless, success of these models has been mostly limited to regular languages. Additional information in form of a priori knowledge has proved important and at times necessary for learning complex languages (Abu-Mostafa 1990; AI-Mashouq and Reed, 1991; Omlin and Giles, 1992; Towell, 1990). They have demonstrated that partial information incorporated in a connectionist model guides the learning process through constraints for efficient learning and better generalization. 'Ve have previously shown that the NNPDA model can learn Deterministic Context 65 66 Das, Giles, and Sun

Language inference and automata induction using recurrent neural networks has gained considerable interest in the recent years. Nevertheless, success of these models hasbeen mostly limited to regular languages. Additional information in form of a priori knowledge has proved important and at times necessary for learning complex languages(Abu-Mostafa 1990; AI-Mashouq and Reed, 1991; Omlin and Giles, 1992; Towell, 1990). They have demonstrated that partial information incorporated in a connectionist model guides the learning process through constraints for efficient learning and better generalization. 'Ve have previously shown that the NNPDA model can learn Deterministic Context 65 66 Das, Giles, and Sun Output