The Natural Topology of English

Abstract

A sociopolitical explanation is offerred as to why the conventional received wisdom about English grammar has persisted so long among teachers of English, despite its well-known inconsistencies. The natural topology of all natural languages is, like those of the strings of symbols in a formal logical or algebraic expression, comprised of relational operators and conceptual operands rather than of subject and predicate. Use of the toplogy in the teaching of English as a second language is illustrated and a possible start at a formal model of semantics is introduced.