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Special issue on "The Generosity of Formal Languages" appeared in the Journal of Indian Philosophy

"The Generosity of Formal Languages", a special double issue of the 
Journal of Indian Philosophy edited by Frits Staal and now available at 
the JIP web site:

http://www.springerlink.com/content/t64735w67420/?p=b1ebcfd71a7a478985991
0630b0358e8&pi=0

Topics include the history and use of formal or artificial language, 
mostly in the context of Indian mathematics, linguistics and science; 
formalisms in Arabic and medieval Italian algebra; and interpretations of
 
historical achievements in terms of modern logic, computation and 
linguistics. "Generosity" refers to the unusual productivity and 
usefulness of formal languages; the theme is inspired, as put in the 
Preface, by d'Alembert's statement that "algebra is generous: she often 
gives more than is asked from her."

Preface: The Generosity of Formal Languages
Frits Staal

On the "Generosity" of a Natural Language
Kamaleswar Bhattacharya

The First Textbook of Calculus: Yuktibhasa
P. P. Divakaran

Panini's Astadyayi and Linguistic Theory
Brendan S. Gillon

Generosity: No Doubt, but at Times Excessive and Delusive
Jens Hyrup

Positional Value and Linguistic Recursion
John Kadvany

Epistemology and Language in Indian Astronomy and Mathematics
Roddam Narasimha

Medieval Arabic Algebra as an Artificial Language
Jeffrey A. Oaks

Artificial Languages Between Innate Faculties
Frits Staal

Hand or Hammer? On Formal and Natural Languages in Semantics
Martin Stokhof