"The deeper problem is the school tradition itself. It's a TRADITION, after all" Interesting point and I agree. Why are we identifying metalinguistics with wo

"The deeper problem is the school tradition itself. It's a TRADITION, after all" Interesting point and I agree. Why are we identifying metalinguistics with words anyway? Why not just use symbols so we can actually compare them across languages? Is the tradition so inherently rigid and stuck to the written/spoken languages - rather than moving beyond words and use a system of symbols? The tradition obsufcates the universality of grammar and semantics by adding words atop words rather than simple symbolism. Doesn't this make internalization harder? You don't teach math just by numbers but also with symbols and real-world references. As for internalization and understanding what and where 'the' belongs...There has been astounding success in identification and understanding when metalinguistics is entirely removed and replaced with simple symbols like grmmr (http://green-bridge.org http://green-bridge.org). I've seen results upfront and it seems a non-word approach eases and solidifies linguistic understanding in ways far more profoundly than metalinguistics ever can. Teachers and students alike have said this system has taken away all the cloud of uncertainty in language grammar and semantics. If you are a linguist and you are interested in helping grmmr become a standard in the studies of metalinguistics, please do let me know! I'm the design partner of the company. We are eager to open source this knowledge into a simple but reliable notation. This system has been in use for over 20 years in classrooms, colleges, and adult education programs. It has been redesigned from bottom up in order to be as accessible and consistent as you would expect from a grammar categorizing system.