LANGUAGE AS FORMULA: MATHEMATICAL ANALOGIES IN GRAMMAR AND LANGUAGE TEACHING
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55640/Keywords:
grammar instruction; mathematical thinking; formula-based systems; tense structures; syntactic hierarchy; grammatical exceptionsAbstract
This article examines the structural relationship between language teaching and mathematical thinking by proposing that many grammatical domains can be modeled as formula-like systems. Tenses, comparison, conditionals, quantity, word order, and syntactic hierarchy exhibit rule-governed behavior comparable to mathematical operations, relations, and constraints. At the same time, natural language systematically allows exceptions that resist complete formalization. Drawing on work in mathematical linguistics and second language acquisition, the paper argues that mathematical analogies can enhance grammar instruction—particularly for analytically oriented learners—while acknowledging the inherent limits of such models.References
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