Authors

Discussion

For centuries, mathematicians have explored the possibility of using mathematical concepts to express non-mathematical ideas, including René Descartes (1596–1650) and Gottfried Leibniz (1646–1716). Such projects also inspired poets including Velimir Khlebnikov (1885–1922), who was directly inspired by Leibniz’s characteristica universalis. Another figure interested in the potential of mathematics as a language of communication was the Estonian linguist and mathematician Jakob Lintsbakh (1874–1953), who experimented with words, mathematics, symbols, music, movement, and more, through his transtsendentnaia algebra, which Tsivian describes as ‘a philosophical, universal language that could be used and understood by everyone’ (2014, p. 88). Lintsbakh published on his new experimental language in several languages (including Russian, French, German, and Occidental) from 1916 until his death in 1953. Whilst Lintsbakh’s ideas were not adopted, they represent a broader interest in the internationalisation of language in the early twentieth century and the role of mathematics in communication. This paper builds on the previous work of scholars (including Moret 2019, Sokolova 2024, Tsivian 2014), by focussing on Lintsbakh’s mathematical writings. Firstly, I will introduce some of Lintsbakh’s lesser-known works on mathematics, before considering the limitations of his transcendental algebra in communicating mathematics, the very subject he attempts to emulate.