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The Chomsky-Schutzenberger representation theorem states that a language $L$ is context-free iff there is a homomorphism $h$, a regular language $R$, and a paired alphabet $\Sigma = T \cup \overline{T}$ such that $L = h(D_\Sigma \cap R)$, where $D_\Sigma$ is the Dyck language over $\Sigma$. This is a necessary and sufficient condition for a language to be context-free, so in principle it seems like it should be possible to show that a language is not context-free by showing that there are no valid choices for $h$, $\Sigma$, and $R$ satisfying the theorem.
This earlier question talks about approaches for showing that a language is not context-free, but doesn't mention this approach. Additionally, I can't seem to find any constructive examples of proofs of non-context-freeness along these lines.
Are there any known examples of languages that have been shown not to be context-free by means of the Chomsky-Schutzenberger theorem?
but note the general problem of determining whether a language is CFL is undecidable.
– vzn – 2015-02-24T17:17:56.223I guess I'm saying a banality here, but in practice the pumping lemma (for CF languages) is infinitely easier to use as a proof technique at least for textbook-level problems. – Fizz – 2015-02-24T19:50:05.883
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Here's a less banal fact: in 2009 Mans Hulden created a parsing algorithm based on the C-S thorem.
– Fizz – 2015-02-24T21:27:45.940