metalanguage

[met-uh-lang-gwij] /ˈmɛt əˌlæŋ gwɪdʒ/
noun
1.
any language or symbolic system used to discuss, describe, or analyze another language or symbolic system.
Origin
1935-40; meta- + language
British Dictionary definitions for meta-language

metalanguage

/ˈmɛtəˌlæŋɡwɪdʒ/
noun
1.
a language or system of symbols used to discuss another language or system See also formal language, natural language Compare object language
Encyclopedia Article for meta-language

metalanguage

in semantics and philosophy, language used for the analysis of object language (language that is used to talk about objects in the world). Thus, a metalanguage may be thought of as a language about another language. Such philosophers as the German-born Logical Positivist Rudolf Carnap and Alfred Tarski, Polish-born mathematician, argued that philosophical problems and philosophical statements can be resolved only when seen in terms of a syntactical framework. The logic of semantics is what determines the truth of a statement, rather than the statement's nonformal, or actual, meaning. Carnap felt that by making use of symbolic notation in a metalanguage and by adhering to rules of logic it was possible to avoid metaphysical judgments, which, in his system, were by definition invalid.

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