Document Type
Program
Publication Date
11-4-2023
Abstract
In 1960 Eugene Wigner wrote a now-famous article titled The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences. In 1993, the homophonic quotient groups for French and English (the quotient of the free group generated by the French (respectively English) alphabet determined by relations representing standard pronunciation rules) were explicitly characterized. In this talk, we will explore the mathematical and philosophical connections between these two works. Mathematically I will describe how my colleagues Herbert Gangl, Woohyung Lee (PO’15) and I, native speakers of three quite different languages, applied the methodology proposed in 1993 to our three language systems: German, Korean, and Turkish. Our results point to some interesting differences between these three languages (or at least their current script systems). An overview of the algebraic theory of languages will be included, as well as a philosophical discussion of the implications of these results.
Keywords
Undergraduate Mathematics Day
Disciplines
Mathematics
eCommons Citation
Karaali, Gizem, "23rd Annual Kenneth C. Schraut Memorial Lecture: Languages, Alphabets, and Group Theory" (2023). Undergraduate Mathematics Day: Programs, Lectures, Promotional Materials. 21.
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/mth_umd/21
