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Let us now consider how such hypotheses interact with each other. Consider two subsets A and B of scientists. Exercise 4-3 shows that it is possible for a collection Image-0805.gif of languages to be identified by some member of A and by some member of B without being identified by any member of 0067-001.gif. Thus, the constraint on comparative grammar offered by two hypotheses about children's learning mechanisms cannot be conceived as the intersection of the classes of collections of languages that each permits. This point is illustrated by memory limitation and computability.
4.14 Proposition There is 0067-002.gif such that:
(a) 0067-003.gif;
(b) some memory limited scientist identifies Image-0806.gif; and
(c) no computable, memory limited scientist identifies Image-0807.gif.
Proof: Let 0067-004.gif be a fixed, nonrecursive r.e. set, let 0067-005.gif, and define for all 0067-006.gif, 0067-007.gif, 0067-008.gif. The collection 0067-009.gif will witness the proposition.
We give informal proofs of parts (a) and (b) of the proposition. A computable scientist M that identifies Image-0808.gif works as follows. On incoming text T, M conjectures L until some pair 0067-010.gif appears in T; then M conjectures Ln forever unless 0067-011.gif appears or has already appeared in T, in which case M conjectures 0067-012.gif forever. Note that M is computable but not memory limited. A memory limited scientist F' that identifies Image-0809.gif does the following on T. F' conjectures L until either 0067-013.gif appears in T for any 0067-014.gif, or 0067-015.gif appears in T for 0067-016.gif. In the former case, F' conjectures Ln forever unless 0067-017.gif appears in T, in which case F' conjectures 0067-018.gif forever. In the latter case, F' conjectures 0067-019.gif forever. It can be seen that F' is memory limited but not computable (since F' determines whether 0067-020.gif for nonrecursive A).
To prove part (c) of the proposition, suppose for a contradiction that some computable, memory limited scientist M identifies Image-0810.gif. Let  s  be a locking sequence for M on L. This implies that for every 0067-021.gif, 0067-022.gif. It follows that for some 0067-023.gif, 0067-024.gif, for if this were not the case it would be easy to show (since M is computable) that Image-0811.gif is r.e., and this would contradict the choice of A. Fix such an m, and let S be any enumeration of L. We define two texts, T and T' thus.
0067-025.gif
0067-026.gif

 
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