Editing Metalanguage (section)

{{Short description|Language used to describe another language}}
{{Other uses|Metalanguage (disambiguation)}}
{{Distinguish|metalinguistics}}
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In [[logic]] and [[linguistics]], a '''metalanguage''' is a language used to describe another language, often called the ''object language''.<ref>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</ref> Expressions in a metalanguage are often distinguished from those in the object language by the use of italics, [[quotation mark]]s, or writing on a separate line.{{citation needed|date=January 2018}} The structure of sentences and phrases in a metalanguage can be described by a [[metasyntax]].<ref>van Wijngaarden, A., et al. "[https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-95279-1_2 Language and metalanguage]." Revised Report on the Algorithmic Language Algol 68. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 1976. 17-35.</ref> For example, to say that the word "noun" can be used as a noun in a sentence, one could write ''"noun" is a <noun>''.