![Dan2parallel](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Dan2parallel.jpg)
A paraphrase () is a restatement of the meaning of a text or passage using other words. The term itself is derived via
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
', . The act of paraphrasing is also called ''paraphrasis''.
History
Although paraphrases likely abounded in oral traditions, paraphrasing as a specific educational exercise dates back to at least Roman times, when the author
Quintilian recommended it for students to develop dexterity in language. In the Middle Ages, this tradition continued, with authors such as
Geoffrey of Vinsauf
Geoffrey of Vinsauf ( fl. 1200) is a representative of the early medieval grammarian movement, termed ''preceptive grammar'' for its interest in teaching '' ars poetria''.
''Ars poetria'' is a subdivision of the grammatical art ('' ars grammatic ...
developing schoolroom exercises that included both rhetorical manipulations and paraphrasing as a way of generating poems and speeches. Paraphrasing seems to have dropped off as a specific exercise that students learn, a drop off that largely coincides with the removal of Classical texts from the core of Western education. There is, however, renewed interest in the study of paraphrases, given concerns around
plagiarism and original authorship.
Analysis
A paraphrase typically explains or clarifies the text that is being paraphrased. For example, "The signal was red" might be paraphrased as "The train was not allowed to pass because the signal was red". A paraphrase is usually introduced with ''
verbum dicendi
A ''verbum dicendi'' (Latin for "word of speaking" or "verb of speaking"), also called verb of utterance, is a word that expresses speech or introduces a quotation. English examples of verbs of speaking include ''say'', ''utter'', ''ask'' and ''ru ...
''—a declaratory expression to signal the transition to the paraphrase. For example, in "The signal was red, ''that is'', the train was not allowed to proceed," the ''that is'' signals the paraphrase that follows.
A paraphrase does not need to accompany a direct
quotation
A quotation is the repetition of a sentence, phrase, or passage from speech or text that someone has said or written. In oral speech, it is the representation of an utterance (i.e. of something that a speaker actually said) that is introduced by ...
. The paraphrase typically serves to put the source's statement into perspective or to clarify the
context
Context may refer to:
* Context (language use), the relevant constraints of the communicative situation that influence language use, language variation, and discourse summary
Computing
* Context (computing), the virtual environment required to su ...
in which it appeared. A paraphrase is typically more detailed than a
summary
may refer to:
* Abstract (summary), shortening a passage or a write-up without changing its meaning but by using different words and sentences
* Epitome, a summary or miniature form
* Abridgement, the act of reducing a written work into a sho ...
. One should add the source at the end of the sentence: When the light was red, trains could not go (Wikipedia).
A paraphrase may attempt to preserve the essential
meaning of the material being paraphrased. Thus, the (intentional or otherwise) reinterpretation of a source to infer a meaning that is not explicitly evident in the source itself qualifies as "original
research
Research is " creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...
," and not a paraphrase.
Unlike a
metaphrase
Metaphrase is a term referring to literal translation, i.e., "word by word and line by line" translation. In everyday usage, metaphrase means literalism; however, metaphrase is also the translation of poetry into prose.Andrew Dousa Hepburn, Manual ...
, which represents a "formal equivalent" of the source, a paraphrase represents a "dynamic equivalent" thereof. While a metaphrase attempts to translate a text literally, a paraphrase conveys the essential thought expressed in a source text—if necessary, at the expense of
literality. For details, see
dynamic and formal equivalence
The terms dynamic equivalence and formal equivalence, coined by Eugene Nida, are associated with two dissimilar translation approaches that are employed to achieve different levels of literalness between the source and target text, as eviden ...
.
Biblical paraphrase
The term is applied to the genre of
Biblical paraphrase A biblical paraphrase is a literary work which has as its goal, not the translation of the Bible, but rather, the rendering of the Bible into a work that retells all or part of the Bible in a manner that accords with a particular set of theological ...
s, which were the most widely circulated versions of the Bible available in medieval Europe.
Here, the purpose was not to render an exact rendition of the meaning or the complete text, but to present material from the Bible in a version that was theologically orthodox and not subject to heretical interpretation, or, in most cases, to take from the Bible and present to a wide public material that was interesting, entertaining and spiritually meaningful, or, simply to abridge the text.
In your own words
The phrase "in your own words" is often used within this context to imply that the writer has rewritten the text in their own writing style – how they would have written it if they had created the idea. Nowadays, there are some models to learn and recognize paraphrase on natural language texts. Sentences can also be automatically paraphrased using
text simplification
Text simplification is an operation used in natural language processing to change, enhance, classify, or otherwise process an existing body of human-readable text so its grammar and structure is greatly simplified while the underlying meaning and ...
software.
[Shardlow, Matthew.]
A survey of automated text simplification
" International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications 4.1 (2014): 58–70.
See also
*
Automated paraphrasing
Paraphrase or paraphrasing in computational linguistics is the natural language processing task of detecting and generating paraphrases. Applications of paraphrasing are varied including information retrieval, question answering, text summarizati ...
*
Text simplification
Text simplification is an operation used in natural language processing to change, enhance, classify, or otherwise process an existing body of human-readable text so its grammar and structure is greatly simplified while the underlying meaning and ...
*
Rogeting
Rogeting is an informal neologism created to describe the act of modifying a published source by substituting synonyms for sufficient words to fool plagiarism detection software, often resulting in the creation of new meaningless phrases through ...
References
{{Authority control
Rhetoric
Translation studies