metalanguage

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Etymology

meta- +‎ language

Noun

metalanguage (countable and uncountable; plural metalanguages)

1. (linguistics, translation studies, critical theory) Any language or vocabulary of specialized terms used to describe or analyze a language or linguistic process.
   • 2005, Michael Cronin, Training for the New Millennium: Pedagogies for translation and interpreting, edited by Martha Tennent, Benjamins Translation Library, p. 255:

     In order to talk or theorise about phenomena, one inevitably uses a language that is in effect a metalanguage, a special instance of language that allows the theorist to stand back and describe what is happening.

2. (computing) Any similar language used to define a programming language.

Translations

linguistical term

• Bulgarian: метаезик (bg) (metaezík) m 
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 元語言 (cmn), 元语言 (cmn) (yuányǔyán); 形而上語言 (cmn), 形而上语言 (cmn) (xíng'érshàngyǔyán)

• Czech: metajazyk (cs) m
• Finnish: metakieli (fi)
• French: métalangage (fr) m

• German: Metasprache (de) f
• Icelandic: hjálparmál (is) n
• Irish: meititheanga (ga) f
• Japanese: メタ言語 (ja) (meta gengo)
• Russian: метаязык (ru) (metajazýk) m 
• Slovak: metajazyk (sk) m
• Turkish: üstdil (tr)

computing term

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 元語言 (cmn), 元语言 (cmn) (yuányǔyán); 形而上語言 (cmn), 形而上语言 (cmn) (xíng'érshàngyǔyán)

• Finnish: metakieli (fi)
• French: métalangage (fr) m
• German: Metasprache (de) f

• Icelandic: lýsimál (is) n
• Irish: meititheanga (ga) f
• Japanese: メタ言語 (ja) (meta gengo)
• Russian: метаязык (ru) (metajazýk) m 
• Turkish: üstdil (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Welsh: meta-iaith (cy) f

See also

• object language