Editing Metalanguage (section)

=== <span class="anchor" id="Embedded metalanguage"></span> Embedded ===

An ''embedded metalanguage'' is a language formally, naturally and firmly fixed in an object language. This idea is found in [[Douglas Hofstadter]]'s book, ''[[Gödel, Escher, Bach]]'', in a discussion of the relationship between formal languages and [[number theory]]: "... it is in the nature of any formalization of number theory that its metalanguage is embedded within it."<ref>[[Douglas Hofstadter|Hofstadter, Douglas]]. 1980. [[Gödel, Escher, Bach|''Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid'']]. New York: Vintage Books {{isbn|0-14-017997-6}}</ref>

It occurs in natural, or informal, languages, as well—such as in English, where words such as ''noun'', ''verb'', or even ''word'' describe features and concepts pertaining to the English language itself.