Metalanguage

In logic and linguistics, a metalanguage is a language used to describe another language, often called the object language.[1] Expressions in a metalanguage are often distinguished from those in the object language by the use of italics, quotation marks, or writing on a separate line.[citation needed] The structure of sentences and phrases in a metalanguage can be described by a metasyntax.[2] For example, to say that the word "noun" can be used as a noun in a sentence, one could write "noun" is a <noun>.

  1. ^ 2010. Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Dictionary online. Available from http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/metalanguage Internet. Retrieved 20 November 2010
  2. ^ van Wijngaarden, A., et al. "Language and metalanguage." Revised Report on the Algorithmic Language Algol 68. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 1976. 17-35.