metalanguage

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *me

Proto-Indo-European *meth₂?

Ancient Greek μετᾰ́ (metắ)

Ancient Greek μετᾰ- (metă-)lbor.

English meta-

Proto-Indo-European *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s

Proto-Italic *dn̥ɣwā

Latin dingua

Latin lingua

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-tós

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂tos

Proto-Italic *-ātos

Vulgar Latin -ātus

Proto-Indo-European *-kos

Proto-Indo-European *-ikos

Proto-Italic *-ikos

Vulgar Latin -icus

Vulgar Latin -āticus

Vulgar Latin -āticum

Vulgar Latin *linguāticum

Old French languagebor.

Middle English langage

English language

English metalanguage

From meta- + language.

Pronunciation

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

Noun

metalanguage (countable and uncountable, plural metalanguages)

1. (linguistics, translation studies, critical theory) Any language or vocabulary of terms used to describe or analyze a language or linguistic process.

   Coordinate terms: metaemotion, metathought, metaphilosophy

   • 2005, Michael Cronin, edited by Martha Tennent and Benjamins Translation Library, Training for the New Millennium: Pedagogies for translation and interpreting, page 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

Derived terms

• metametalanguage

Related terms

• metalingual
• metalinguist
• metalinguistic

Translations

linguistical term

• Bulgarian: метаези́к m (metaezík)
• Catalan: metallenguatge (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 元語言 / 元语言 (zh) (yuányǔyán); 形而上語言 / 形而上语言 (xíng'érshàng yǔyán)

• Czech: metajazyk (cs) m
• Finnish: metakieli
• French: métalangage (fr) m
• German: Metasprache (de) f
• Greek: μεταγλώσσα (el) f (metaglóssa)
• Hungarian: metanyelv (hu)
• Icelandic: hjálparmál n
• Irish: meititheanga f
• Italian: metalinguaggio (it) m
• Japanese: メタ言語 (ja) (meta gengo)
• Kazakh: метатіл (metatıl)
• Polish: metajęzyk (pl) m
• Portuguese: metalinguagem (pt) f
• Russian: метаязы́к (ru) m (metajazýk)
• Slovak: metajazyk m
• Swedish: metaspråk n
• Thai: อภิภาษา
• Turkish: üstdil
• Ukrainian: метамо́ва f (metamóva)

computing term

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 元語言 / 元语言 (zh) (yuányǔyán); 形而上語言 / 形而上语言 (xíng'érshàng yǔyán)

• Finnish: metakieli
• French: métalangage (fr) m
• German: Metasprache (de) f
• Greek: μεταγλώσσα (el) f (metaglóssa)
• Icelandic: lýsimál n
• Irish: meititheanga f
• Italian: metalingua f
• Japanese: メタ言語 (ja) (meta gengo)
• Polish: metajęzyk (pl) m
• Portuguese: metalinguagem (pt) f
• Russian: метаязы́к (ru) m (metajazýk)
• Thai: อภิภาษา
• Turkish: üstdil
• Ukrainian: метамо́ва f (metamóva)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Welsh: ^{(please verify)} meta-iaith f

See also

• epilanguage
• metadiscourse
• object language