Book Title: Nyaya Theory of Knowledge
Author(s): S C Chateerjee
Publisher: University of Calcutta

View full book text
Previous | Next

Page 370
________________ OF WORDS 353 a part of the alphabet, bụt a word stands for some thing or some idea. Like letters, words may be either spoken or written. A spoken word is the object of auditory perception and a written word that of visual perception. Thus words are symbolic sounds constituted by letters arranged in a definite order. A word is not a mere collection of letters, but a definite whole of letters or syllables which are its parts and have a fixed order in the whole. It is a unity of the parts in so far as it is the object of a single cognition.' The question as to how the constituents of a word are synthesised so as to form one whole, will be considered later on. 2. Words and their meanings A word is defined as a group of letters arranged in a fixed order. This definition, however, has in view the existence or the constitution of a word The essential nature of a word lies in its meaning. Logically a word is a sound that bears a certain ineaning. The meaning of a word consists in its relation to the object which it signifies. A word may have different meanings according to the different ways in which it may be related to an object. According to the Naiyāyikas, there are three kinds of meaning of a word, namely, abhidhā, paribhāṣā and lakṣaṇā. Let us here consider these different kinds of meaning of a word. By abhidhā is meant the primary meaning of a word. It is also called sakyārtha, vācyārtha and mukhyārtha. The relation between a word and its meaning may be either samketa or laksanā. Samketa is the direct relation between a word and its meaning, such that the knowledge of the 1 Padam ca varpaga mübah, etc , TB, p 14 3 C padam ca varnagamübah' (Tarkabhäsä, p. 14), "Gaktain padam' (Tarka sangraha, p. 64). 3 Vide Sabdasaktı-prakäśıkā, Introduction (C. U. Edo.) 45—(1117B)

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440