In this paper we describe an approach to constraint based syntactic theories in terms of finite tree automata. The solutions to constraints expressed in weak monadic second order (MSO) logic are represented by tree automata recognizing the assignments which make the formulas true. We show that this allows an efficient representation of knowledge about the content of constraints which can be used as a practical tool for grammatical theory verification. We achieve this by using the intertranslatability of formulae of MSO logic and tree automata and the embedding of MSO logic into a constraint logic programming scheme. The usefulness of the approach is discussed with examples from the realm of Principles-and-Parameters based parsing.

We examine the consistency problem for descriptions of trees based on remote dominance, and present a consistency-checking algorithm which is polynomial in the number of nodes in the description, despite disjunctions inherent in the theory of trees. The resulting algorithm allows for descriptions which go beyond sets of atomic formulas to allow certain types of disjunction and negation.