![[photo-1636701864058-609df9eae353.jpg]] Photo by [Daniel Lincoln](https://unsplash.com/@danny_lincoln?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/@danny_lincoln?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText) As we discussed in "[[Symbols are Words]]" post, conduit metaphor is conceptualized and structured language discovered by M.J.Reddy and we call this language “Meta Language”. Broadly, any Meta language is language or symbols used when language itself is being discussed or examined [1]. Today, we recognize three major Meta Languages: - Embedded Meta Language - Ordered Meta Language - Nested Meta Language An **embedded Meta language** 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 Meta language is embedded within it”. [2] An **ordered Meta language** is analogous to ordered logic. An example of an ordered Meta language is the construction of one Meta language to discuss an object language, followed by the creation of another Meta language to discuss the first, etc. A **nested (or, hierarchical) Meta language** is similar to an ordered Meta language in that each level represents a greater degree of abstraction. However, a nested Meta language differs from an ordered one in that each level includes the one below. [3] Common example of a Meta language in computing is XML. Many other Meta Languages have been based on the W3C XML 1.0 standard, including XQuery (An XML based Query language), XLink, SVG, SMIL etc. --- Family of ecosystem languages is constructed as Embedded Meta Languages with extension to Ordered Meta Language at highest level of Abstraction. The middle level of abstraction is covered by conceptual visualization, which translates vision described in abstractions into services and extends existing description of entities. The lowest level of abstraction interprets abstracts into real services / products / entities, orchestrates solution and produces interoperable Meta Language based deployment scripts for various ecosystem platforms. ## References [1] Cambridge Advanced Learner‘s Dictionary; Cambridge University Press [2] Hofstadter, Douglas; Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid; ISBN 0140179976 [3] Wikipedia - The Definitions ## Related to [[Ecosystem interpretation - The Role of Ontology]] [[Foundation of Ecosystem Languages]] [[InfoSymbolism is the universal language]] [[Ecosystem building blocks and CIEL visualization]]