In Other Words / A Defense of Paraphrase
<p>Here is a definition of paraphrase:</p> <p>(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.</p> <p>And here is a paraphrase of the definition of paraphrase:</p> <p>(1a) A restatement of someone else’s writing or speech, particularly to clarify the meaning; an approximate version.</p> <p>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.</p>
Authors: Jeff Dolven
Design: Felipe Mancheno
Illustrator: Emily Dunne, Raul Lázaro
Part of: Flugschriften
ISBN: 9781733536578