An Optimal Tabular Parsing Algorithm

In this paper we relate a number of parsing algorithms which have been developed in very different areas of parsing theory, and which include deterministic algorithms, tabular algorithms, and a parallel algorithm. We show that these algorithms are based on the same underlying ideas. By relating existing ideas, we hope to provide an opportunity to improve some algorithms based on features of others. A second purpose of this paper is to answer a question which has come up in the area of tabular parsing, namely how to obtain a parsing algorithm with the property that the table will contain as little entries as possible, but without the possibility that two entries represent the same subderivation.