declare -a metas
set a b c

set -x
# some time we will have better compound assignment printing (after expansion)
metas=( \|  \& \; \( \) \< \> $' ' $'\t' $'\n' )
n=( $@ )

# like regular expansions
: "${metas[@]}"

DEFAULT_IFS=$' \t\n'

set +x
declare -p metas