Definition:Metalanguage
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General Definition
A metalanguage is a language (either formal or natural) which is used to make statements about another language (again, either formal or natural).
Formal Systems
In the context of formal systems, a metalanguage is a formal language used to specify another formal language.
Object Language
The object language of a metalanguage is the language it describes.
Metasyntax
The syntax of the metalanguage is called a metasyntax of the object language.
In some contexts the metalanguage itself is referred to as a metasyntax.
Note that it is a metasyntax, as a given object language may have multiple metalanguages to define it.
Metasymbol
A metasymbol is a symbol used in a metalanguage to represent an arbitrary word in the object language.
Altenative terms for this are metalogical variable or metasyntactic variable
References
- ↑ As immortalized by Terry Pratchett in Men at Arms: the dog Gaspode says, "Clothing has never been what you might call a thingy of dog wossname." Then he adds: "Two metasyntactic variables there. Sorry."
