[[File:Fancy noun recursive transition network.svg|350px|thumb|A recursive transition network for "fancy nouns". Note that recursion is created by the nodes labelled "Fancy noun".]]
A '''recursive transition network''' ("RTN") is a [[graph theory|graph theoretical]] [[schematic]] used to represent the rules of a [[context-free grammar]]. RTNs have application to [[programming language]]s, [[natural language]] and [[lexical analysis]]. Any [[Sentence (linguistics)|sentence]] that is constructed according to the rules of an RTN<ref>A sentence is generated by a RTN by applying the generative rules specified in the RTN itself. These represent any set of rules or a function consisting of a finite number of steps.</ref> is said to be "well-formed". The structural elements of a well-formed sentence may also be well-formed sentences by themselves, or they may be simpler structures. This is why RTNs are described as [[Recursion|recursive]].
