The aim of the following brief questionnaire is to gather basic
information about those features of various languages which
significantly affect expression of mathematical concepts and
arguments. I would be most grateful to you if you could provide
me with answers in respect of your mother tongue. - Your answers
to this questionnaire – about which language are they? (In my
questions, I refer to this language as ‘your language’). - In
your language, are there (a) definite (b) indefinite articles?
(English has both, Russian—my mother tongue – neither). - In
your language, is there a distinction between singular, dual (do
not be surprised, some languages have dual forms) and plural
forms of (a) nouns; (b) verbs? (Russian has singular and plural,
both for verbs and nouns, with an additional curious occurrence
of plurality markers for two, three, four objects (nouns), which
are different for plurality markers for 5+ objects.) - Is
“double negation” used in normative (literate) speech? In
English this is usually a