The Linguistic Architecture of Mathematical Thought (Part 2): Verb Metabolism, Horizontal Transmission, and the Cognitive Foundations of Reification

Synthesizing the frameworks of "Verb Metabolism" and "Syntactic Re-reification," this paper explores the linguistic mechanisms that fix the inherently uncertain and fluid "changes" of a verb into manipulable, static states or objects. Regarding sentence structure, alongside the central verb, both a "probabilistic modifier" (discussed in Part 1) and a "subject" (addressed by prior typological research) are indispensable. This paper isolates and focuses purely on the metabolic transformation of the verb itself. In the first phase, "adjectivization," Japanese and English share a remarkably similar circuit of "freezing time via past/perfect markers" (e.g., togatta / pointed), unlike the structural particles in Chinese or vowel templates in Arabic. This non-continuous distribution resembles the patchy acquisition of "photosynthesis" in biology and cannot be casually attributed to convergent evolution. In the second phase, "nominalization," an asymmetry exists: while native verbs leaving a state (e.g., flow) are easily nominalized, those involving object disappearance (e.g., eat) resist abstract nominalization. Although Japanese successfully nominalized its native concrete layer (e.g., tabemono), both Japanese and English overcame the limitations of their abstract layers by introducing external "lexical vectors" (Sino-Japanese and Latin modules). This pliable, coexisting vector-introduction strategy represents a form of horizontal transmission, dynamically distinct from the high-cost, structurally stable "gene integration" (morphological assimilation) adopted by German and Uralic languages.