Linguistics and Mathematics

[Lara1]

Hello. I'm second year student of English and I'm really interested in linguistics. I've joined a linguistics club in my university and I'm going to write an article. I've thought about the theme: 'similarity between linguistics and mathematics' (because I also like Maths...). For example forming  sentences  really resemble forming equations. I would like to know if it makes sense... 

[fuzzylogician]

What do you mean by similarity? We use equations to describe sentence meanings in semantics on a regular basis, but I don't recall seeing anyone argue that the ways in which you form the two resemble each other.

[Lara1]

Hmm maybe I should form my statement in a different way. I meant that when we form a correct sentence we follow some rules like in mathematics - to form correct equation (I mean to solve it correctly) when need to follow some rules. I don't  want to say that it is completely the same and it was only an example... I've only asked because I'm still a beginner and I don't want to write a heresy... 

[fuzzylogician]

Ok, then let me follow up with more questions:

"when we form a correct sentence we follow some rules like in mathematics" -- correct, how?  syntactically? semantically? something else? what rules do we follow?

"to form correct equation (I mean to solve it correctly) when need to follow some rules" -- what rules? are they the same? why is solving an equation like forming a correct sentence?

 

I fear this may be a very large question, especially since it's not very well defined right now. If you are able to identify a certain rule that is used in both processes, then maybe it makes more sense.

[Lara1]

Your tips are really important to me. You are right, I haven't got well defined statement yet... I impulsive a little bit. I thought that when we, for example, forget about some syntactic unit while forming a sentence and  some basic rules while forming an equation the result won't be correct in both cases. I don't insist that it is exactly the same! And I thought also about other fields of mathematics like logic, not only algebra...For example the sentence is true when fulfill some requirements and may be false when one of them is false (BUT I also have to look into it, it is my free consideration and I may be wrong).  But thank you, I'll try to define some rule to prove my statement or to give it up. 

[LinguisticMystic]

I'm not exactly sure either what you mean by the similarity between mathematics and linguistics... If you're talking about drawing analogies between the two, I would first ask... why? There's no inherent reason to look for analogies without a purpose for doing so. It's simply too easy to find analogies when you're comparing two rule-ordered systems. It sort of goes without saying that you'll find similarities. I would suggest narrowing down what you want to examine and then being able to substantiate why it's something worth doing in the first place...

[Lara1]

Thank you LinguisticMystic for your comment. I thought that I may be my project instead of writing about some well known things. Now, I know that I must focus on something, my ideas are too loose, I mean not tightly connected with something which would make sense. I will try to find a statement and examine it, as far as possible. If not, I have another topic to write, which is easier. But if I didn't ask you about it I would write about it and it may be a rubbish.