object languagen.
/ˈɒbdʒᵻkt ˌlaŋɡwɪdʒ/, /ˈɒbdʒɛkt ˌlaŋɡwɪdʒ/, U.S. /ˈɑbdʒək(t) ˌlæŋɡwɪdʒ/ 1. Philosophy. Esp. in the theories of Bertrand Russell: language made up of words each of which can be understood or learned in isolation from the others, because they refer directly to objects or types of objects. Cf. object word n. at object n. Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > philosophy of language > language theories of individual philosophers > [noun] > theory or elements of theory of Bertrand Russell
object word1876
correspondence theory1902
object language1905
definite description1911
1905 Philos. Rev. 14 752 Herder is Leibnizian in..positing the reason as the organ of language and language as the ancilla of reason, in regarding object-language as specifically human.
1940 B. Russell Inq. into Meaning & Truth iv. 63 There must..be a language of lowest type... I shall call this sometimes the ‘object-language’, sometimes the ‘primary language’.
1954 E. Branth tr. H. Spang-Hanssen Rec. Theories Nat. of Lang. Sign in Trav. du Cercle Ling. de Copenhague IX. 76 Object-words form an object-language, which is the primary language in a language hierarchy.
1963 J. Lyons Struct. Semantics iv. 54 I do not accept..that there is a basic ‘object-language’, the elements of which are learnt in isolation and to which the rest of the vocabulary can be reduced.
2. Linguistics. A language which is described or analysed in terms of a metalanguage.
ΚΠ
1935 Mind 44 501 Formal syntax requires a language of which it is the syntax. This language is called the ‘object-language’ (Objektsprache) in distinction from the syntax language.
1947 A. J. Ayer Thinking & Meaning 26 I am using English in a twofold aspect, as an object-language and as a meta-language in which I speak about the object-language.
1965 B. Mates Elem. Logic ii. 36 In the case of a Greek grammar written in English, Greek is the object-language and English is the metalanguage.
1982 16th Cent. Jrnl. 13 13 It is rather an extraordinary language whose purpose is to analyze the logical regularities inherent in other languages. In modern parlance, it is a ‘metalanguage’ rather than an ‘object-language’.
3. Computing. A language into which a program is translated by an assembler or compiler.
ΘΚΠ
society > computing and information technology > software > [noun] > system or utility programmes > translator > result of translation
object program1959
object code1961
object language1961
target program1969
1961 H. D. Leeds & G. M. Weinberg Computer Programming Fund. ii. 49 Just as in language translation, a type of dictionary is employed in translating from the source language to the object language.
1970 P. M. Sherman Techn. Computer Programming vi. 109 The result of the translation process is an object program in an object language or machine language.
1992 UNIX Today! 17 Feb. 38/2 Because you can create new types of objects, prescribing their attributes and functionality as you go along, object languages are user-extensible.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1905