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Misleading preoccupationwith discourse of a second-order?


Second-order Dialogue and Higher Order Discourse for the Future (Part #2)

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There is no lack of preoccupation with "communication" reframed by the prefix "meta", namely communication in some form about communication. It is useful to note such initiatives, as variously defined, in order to distinguish them from the capacity for self-reflexive discourse and the engagement in that process. A summary is presented separately (Overview of a variety of approaches to dialogue and conversation, 2021). The concern here is to acknowledge that recognition of any "meta-perspective" about discourse does not constitute the engagement of such a perspective during the process of discourse.

Meta-discourse: As noted by Ken Hyland:

Metadiscourse is the commentary on a text made by its producer in the course of speaking or writing and it is a widely used term in current discourse analysis and language teaching. In fact, it is perhaps now one of the most commonly employed methods for approaching specialist written texts, so that a simple Google search produces over 154,000 hits, Google Scholar returns some 185,000 documents containing the term and the Web of Science encompasses over 270 papers on the topic. (Metadiscourse: what is it and where is it going? Journal of Pragmatics, 113, May 2017)

Such comments include:

Understood in this way, meta-discourse can readily be understood as commentary on discourse -- after the fact and subsequent to the process. Less evident is when the term might be interpreted as a perspective embodied in the process -- and how this might be experienced by participants, especially in the immediacy of verbal exchange in contrast with "arms-length" commentary on written text.

Meta-discussion: According to Wikipedia:

The term meta-discussion means a discussion whose subject is a discussion. Meta-discussion explores such issues as the style of a discussion, its participants, the setting in which the discussion occurs, and the relationship of the discussion to other discussions on the same or different topics. It is one of many terms based on the inferred meaning of the "meta-" prefix. The etymology for the prefix dates back to use of Metaphysics as the title of the treatise by Aristotle that came after his works on physics in the traditional ordering of his books. The fundamental meaning of the prefix in Greek is simply "after." The modern, inferred meaning of a higher-order, self-referential consideration of the nature of an activityâ--rather than actual, first-level participation in the activityâ--has led to many neologisms such as meta-wiki.

Of particular relevance to the preoccupation here is the manner in which participants may "retreat" to meta-discussion, as variously argued by Beth Innocenti (Demanding a Halt to Metadiscussions, Argumentation, 36, 2022; Halting Retreats to Metadialogues, Evidence, persuasion and diversity 2020).

Intriguingly consideration is given to the process of deleting "meta-discussion" in the editorial process of Wikipedia (Delete Metadiscussion), This is defined as the practice of deleting any discussion on a page relating to whether or not the page should exist. This is reminiscent of the practice in English tort law where a super-injunction is a type of injunction that prevents publication of information that is in issue and also prevents the reporting of the fact that the injunction exists at all.

Meta-dialogue: It is less evident whether and how "meta-discourse" can be meaningfully distinguished from terms such as "meta-dialogue" or "meta-discussion", as exemplified by the following:

Meta-language and meta-argument: A perspective which is more analytical and less participative is implied by the following, or the initiatives of the International Society for the Study of Argumentation:

Meta-communication: Whilst this may be readily conflated with meta-discourse and the like, it also suggests the extent to which communication of significance may be associated with what might be understood as "meta-data", namely content implied by the communication process:

Meta-talk: This term suggests greater emphasis on the participative dimension of communication:

Meta-logic and oppositional logic: The metatheory of logic which can be considered fundamental to discourse is termed metalogic. Whereas logic studies how logical systems can be used to construct valid and sound arguments, metalogic studies the properties of logical systems. Logic concerns the truths that may be derived using a logical system; metalogic concerns the truths that may be derived about the formal  languages and systems that are used to express truths.

In metalogic, formal languages are sometimes called object languages. The language used to make statements about an object language is called a metalanguage. This distinction is a key difference between logic and metalogic. While logic deals with proofs in a formal system, expressed in some formal language, metalogic deals with proofs about a formal system which are expressed in a metalanguage about some object language.

Of related interest, and of particular relevance to discourse, is oppositional logic (Guoping Du, et al, Oppositional Logic, Logic, Rationality, and Interaction, 2009). This is an extended system of classical propositional logic. The associated square of opposition is a diagram representing the relations between the four basic categorical propositions. It is held to be a general framework for cognition, as explored in the proceedings of a continuing series of international congresses (Jean-Yves Béziau and Gianfranco Basti, The Square of Opposition: a cornerstone of thought, 2017):. These contributions focus on discoveries relating to the theory of opposition and its geometrical representation (square, hexagon, octagon, polyhedra of opposition), and their applications to theology, theory of argumentation and metalogic.

Oppositional logic is at the heart of both narrative progression and semantic, thematic, or symbolic content. As the semiotic square it has proven to be an influential concept not only in narrative theory. It is a tool used in structural analysis of the relationships between semiotic signs through the opposition of concepts.

As clarified by Daniel Chandler (Semiotics: the basics, EPDF, Routledge, 2002);

Derrida demonstrated that within the oppositional logic of binarism neither of the terms (or concepts) makes sense without the other. This is what he calls 'the logic of supplementarity': the 'secondary' term which is represented as 'marginal' and external is in fact constitutive of the 'primary' term and essential to it (Derrida 1967). The unmarked term is defined by what it seeks to suppress. In the pairing of oppositions or contraries,

Oppositional logic has itself been contrasted with co-genetic logic "in the Tensegrity Self" (Giuseppina Marsico and Luca Tateo, Borders, Tensegrity and Development in Dialogue, Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 51, 2017, 2). In offering insights into configuring patterns of anti-otherness, the meta-perspective is especially relevant to an understandiong of meta-communication (Oppositional Logic as Comprehensible Key to Sustainable Democracy, 2018).

Of potential relevance is the manner in which communication of a "higher order" can be distinguished through the consideration of the set of 16 logical connectives and the challenge of their configuration beyond three dimensions. As discussed separately, this may exploit a hypercube (or tesseract) in some cases (as illustrated below) and featuring in hypercube computer network topology (Oppositional logic and its requisite polyhedral geometry, 2019). The animation simulating a 4-dimensional configuration offers an especially suggestive implication of meta-communication.

The Logic Alphabet Tesseract
- a four-dimensional cube (see coding).
by Shea Zellweger

 Tesseract animation
simulating requisite 4-dimensionality?		 Topologically faithful 4-statement Venn diagram
is the graph of edges of a 4-dimensional cube
as described by Tony Phillips		 Organization of contingent bitstrings
on a rhombic dodecahedron
The Logic Alphabet Tesseract by Shea Zellweger Tesseract animation Topologically faithful 4-statement Venn diagram Rhombic dodecahedron with contingent bitstrings
Diagram by Warren Tschantz
(reproduced from the Institute of Figuring) .		 by Jason Hise [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons A vertex is labeled by its coordinates (0 or 1) in the A, B, C and D directions; the 4-cube is drawn as projected into 3-space; edges going off in the 4th dimension are shown in green. Adapted from Lorenz Demey and Hans Smessaert (2017)


"Double-talk"? Curiously the sense in which "meta" implies a second level of discourse of some kind calls for examination in relation to what is highly deprecated as political "doublespeak". This is readily conflated and confused with "double-talk" in which nonsense terms are embedded in discourse (Michael Green, Talk and Doubletalk: the development of metacommunication: knowledge about oral language, Research in the Teaching of English, 19, 1985, 1; Terence P. Moran, Public Doublespeak: On Communication and Pseudocommunication, College English, 36, 1974, 1).

As doublespeak it is language that deliberately obscures, disguises, distorts, or reverses the meaning of words. Euphemisms may for example be used to make unpleasant truths appear more palatable:

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