It is sort of complicated

This chapter is concerned with the referential use (a sort of screwdriver) and the qualifying use (sort of proud) of the English type noun sort of. Specifically, it investigates (i) whether, in the referential use of sort of, N2 can be referential as well, (ii) whether there exists an additional separate modifying use (a paternalistic sort of chap) of sort of, and (iii) whether all qualifying uses of sort of are always non-truth-conditional. It is argued (i) that, in the referential use of sort of, N2 can indeed be referential if the whole construction makes reference to a subtype of an identifiable and specific supertype, (ii) that proposed modifying uses of sort of are in fact better accounted for as instances of the referential use, and (iii) that two additional truth-conditional uses of sort of, expressing degree (sort of tall) or approximation (sort of dead) can be identified, depending on the gradability of the adjective.