In Other Words / A Defense of Paraphrase [electronic resource].

Flugschriften 2020

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Here is a definition of paraphrase: (1) A rewording of something written or spoken by someone else, esp. with the aim of making the sense clearer; a free rendering of a passage. And here is a paraphrase of the definition of paraphrase: (1a) A restatement of someone else’s writing or speech, particularly to clarify the meaning; an approximate version. Can there be a definition, in turn, of paraphrase (1a)? No: a definition captures the general linguistic potential of a word or phrase, abstracted from any particular statement. A paraphrase reprises a particular statement, as (1a) reprises (1). For the same reason, there cannot be a definition of a definition. (Though of course there can be a definition of “definition.”) What about a paraphrase of a paraphrase? Ah, yes.
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Jeff Dolven
Felipe Mancheno
Emily Dunne
Raul Lázaro