metalanguage

Etymology

meta- + language

noun

1. (linguistics, translation studies, critical theory) Any language or vocabulary of specialized terms used to describe or analyze a language or linguistic process
   In order to talk or theorise about phenomena, one inevitably uses a language that is in effect a metalanguage, a special instance of language that allows the theorist to stand back and describe what is happening. 2005, Michael Cronin, edited by Martha Tennent and Benjamins Translation Library, Training for the New Millennium: Pedagogies for translation and interpreting, page 255
2. (computing) Any similar language used to define a programming language