a mathematical discipline that develops a formal apparatus for describing the structure of natural languages and of some formal languages.
Mathematical linguistics arose in the 1950’s as a result of the urgent need to clarify basic concepts in linguistics. Mathematical linguistics chiefly makes use of algebra, the theory of algorithms, and the theory of automatons. Although not a part of linguistics, mathematical linguistics has developed in close relation to it. A linguistic field of investigation that employs mathematics is sometimes called mathematical linguistics.