Type–token distinction

The term pair type and token elements of language such as words and phrases, and expressions are identified in the analytic philosophy of language. The distinction between occurrence and type ( in English token and type) is made in the ontology in order to distinguish between a single event and the general Vorkommnistyp. An example: On the question of how many digits are in the number 2200999, there are two correct answers. Counting the token ( the events ), so there are seven digits in the series. If you count the other hand, the types, so there are only three, '2 ', '0 ' and '9 '.

Definition

The two terms was introduced by Charles S. Peirce 1906:

" A general method for estimating the circumference of a text or of a printed book is to count the words. It may be about twenty, the ' enter on one side and of course they are counted as twenty words. In another sense of the word 'word' but there is only one word, the ' in the English language; and it is impossible that this kind of word is visible on one side or may be heard, as it is not a single thing or event. It does not exist, but is determined only things that exist. Such a defined characteristic shape, I would like to call Type '. For individual events that happen once and whose identity is limited to an event, or a single object or thing in a particular place and at a particular time, such an event or thing that only where and when it appears, significantly is, as of this or that word in a single row of a single side of a single copy of a book, I want the name, token ' introduce. An undefined certain characters like the sound of a voice can be called neither type nor token. I suggest as a designation of such a sign, clays before '. If you have a, Type ' would like to use, so it must be as, token ' embodied, which should be a sign of the type and in the object that is identified by the Type. "

Token,

Philosophy

The distinction between tokens and types in various fields of philosophy today, especially in the philosophy of language, logic and ontology.

Also in the philosophy of mind, it plays a role. The question of what is a mental state can be understood as a question in accordance with the state token, as well as a question in accordance with the state types, on the one hand. While about classical identity theory types of mental states with types of neural states identified, claims of anomalous monism, Donald Davidson's only an identity of the corresponding token.

Linguistics

In structural linguistics, the terms are used to distinguish between specific linguistic utterances ( tokens ) and the meta-level abstract entities (types ) that they represent. So contains the sentence " A monkey remains a monkey dressed in silk " two tokens monkey, but only one type. So this pair of terms is at the word level to distinguish between etic and emic perspective, or between langue and parole. On the lute level one speaks against it of phones vs. Phonemes in the morphology of morphs vs. Morphemes, etc. Sometimes the term pair is wrongly also equivalent to the pair lexeme - word form used.

In the quantitative linguistics and stylistics of Quantitative especially the Type - token ratio plays an important role since it is the characterization of texts in terms of their vocabulary richness.

Musicology

Such applications are in the field of music theory.

Typography

When printing with movable type, the correspondence between type and token serves as a positive criterion for determining a typographic text:

" The decisive criterion which must meet a pressure typographically produced, is that the type identity of each appearing in the printed text letterforms. In other words, all appearing in the text letterforms must each be specimens (' tokens ') of the same letter type, precisely the type or letter showing a reversed image of the printed letter, prove. "