When Language Misleads Thought: Structural Misalignment in Cognitive Expression

This conceptual structural contribution introduces structural misalignment as a mismatch between the relational configuration of thought and the expressive capacity of language. It proposes that language is not a direct mirror of cognition, but a constrained interface through which thought must be transformed before communication occurs. The paper develops a model of misalignment through compression, structural adaptation, and re-expansion, and examines how expression may fail to preserve cognitive structure even when the underlying thought is coherent.