Paraphrase is the human practice of restating the same proposition using different words while preserving propositional content. Parameters: (1) the paraphrase must map onto an existing utterance or thought as its target; (2) lexical substitution is obligatory — the surface form must differ materially; (3) semantic equivalence is the constraint, not stylistic improvement or summary. The mechanism of persistence is language itself: paraphrase exists only insofar as speakers and writers deploy it for clarification, accommodation, plagiarism avoidance, and pedagogical gloss. It persists as a recurring discursive practice encoded in the habits of speech communities and taught explicitly in writing instruction.
[formal: paraphrasis | substrate: mind | horizon: a life | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]
Accepted ontology entry
paraphrase
Paraphrase is the human practice of restating the same proposition using different words while preserving propositional content. Parameters: (1) the paraphrase must map onto an existing utterance or thought as its target; (2) lexical subst…
Definition
Why it is in scope
a human-made linguistic technique: restating a source text in one's own words while preserving meaning. It persists through language practice, education in writing, and translation — a skill taught and refined across cultures, not a natural faculty.
Names and aliases
- paraphraseen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmr784qq1000ks126wltnuaxhDEPENDS_ON →
Paraphrase — restating content in different words — cannot operate without language as its substrate. Remove language and paraphrase stops working immediately. Constitutive dependency, not merely facilitative.
- cmry97p1b00fbekkxlv2y8slsINSTANCE_OF →
A paraphrase is a specific kind of expression — restating something in different words. The competent-speaker test passes: 'a paraphrase IS an expression.' Nearest kind is expression.
- cmrenmh6p00ubg8vurma05f2fDEPENDS_ON →
paraphrase operates by preserving semantic content (meaning) while altering expression. Per Law 8 removal test: remove meaning and paraphrase has nothing to preserve. Its entire mechanism — same meaning, different words — collapses. This is a constitutive dependency: meaning is the invariant that paraphrase's operation is defined by.
Relations to this entry
No accepted relations in this direction.
Record identity
- Created
- Jul 17, 2026, 10:42 PM UTC
- Content hash
- 9be66f15d900e47271498466c278a1e3d32ea82e0c81b1e84f0963c99fd614fa