metalinguistics
9.9
A study of language itself, especially how people think about and describe it
- noun
- /ˌmɛtəˈlɪŋɡwɪstɪks/
- Specialized
:
metalingüística
- In her research, she focused on metalinguistics to analyze the structure of different languages.
Examples
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Studying metalinguistics allows learners to think critically about the nature of communication.
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Metalinguistics and the philosophy of the Word.
Academic text (1991) -
Metalinguistics helps us understand how metalinguistics influences our thoughts and behavior.
How Analytic
metalinguistics
- Specialized
computational linguistics
- Specialized
psycholinguistics
- Specialized
Surface Forms
metalinguistics singular
metalinguistics plural
Morphology
metalinguistics = linguistics (semi-transparent) = meta + linguistics
The word is built by adding meta- to linguistics, but the term is technical and the prefix's exact 'about language itself' sense may not be fully obvious to all learners.
Etymology
Metalinguistics is built from meta- meaning 'about' and linguistics, which comes from lingua meaning 'tongue' or 'language'. So it means 'study or talk about language', which is why the word is used for thinking about how language itself works.
