Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A language or vocabulary used to describe or analyze language.
  • noun Computers A language used to define another language.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Any language that can be used to describe another language or system of symbols.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun linguistics, translation studies, critical theory Any language or vocabulary of specialized terms used to describe or analyze a language or linguistic process.
  • noun computing Any similar language used to define a programming language.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a language that can be used to describe languages

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

meta- +‎ language

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Examples

  • On the positive side, the concept of truth can be adequately defined for any formalized language L in a language (the so-called metalanguage), provided it is of higher order than L.

    Paradoxes and Contemporary Logic Cantini, Andrea 2007

  • But the mathematical part of the metalanguage will be the same, for that's the "sufficiently developed system of mathematical logic" of which Tarski spoke.

    Alfred Tarski Gómez-Torrente, Mario 2006

  • They also do not necessarily learn the important "metalanguage" of subject areas, which is so crucial if our learners are to socially interact and discuss ideas in a specific knowledge domain with each other and with authentic experts.

    Piaget and Vygotsky Bill Kerr 2006

  • However, our friends, the logicians, have made it clear to us long ago that in any but the simplest languages we must distinguish between an 'object language' and a 'metalanguage'.

    Max Delbrück - Nobel Lecture 1972

  • In general, Greek letters like φ and ψ are variables of the metalanguage, that is, the language I am using for talking about theories of truth and the language in which this entry is written (i.e.,

    Axiomatic Theories of Truth Halbach, Volker 2007

  • "metalanguage" formed by mixing together previously distinct languages or mediums.

    Serial Consign 2010

  • A new metalanguage was created and cherished by those who could talk the talk.

    Rajiv Naresh: Meme Wars and the Death of the Underground Rajiv Naresh 2012

  • A new metalanguage was created and cherished by those who could talk the talk.

    Rajiv Naresh: Meme Wars and the Death of the Underground Rajiv Naresh 2012

  • This glorious mess is an exhausting but also exhilarating archive of language and metalanguage.

    Seth Abramson: December 2011 Contemporary Poetry Reviews Seth Abramson 2011

  • Hmm. I also agree with you that the metalanguage (noun-like events and verb-like acts) is fairly abstruse and unlikely to be of much practical use in the classroom.

    G is for Gerund « An A-Z of ELT 2010

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