Anekanta : Philosophy of Co-existence: 06.05 The Doctrine of Nayas - Novelty of Object due to the Difference of Tense, Gender and Number

Novelty of Object due to the Difference of (1) Tense, (2) Gender and (3) Number

For instance, the propositions - 'there was a city named Jaipur', 'there is such a city' and 'there will be such a city' -h ave different and distinct references, because the city of Jaipur is a variable place without any constant character of its own. Here the difference of meaning is due to the difference of tense represented by the verb. Similarly the difference of gender entails novelty of the thing referred to. For instance in the expressions, 'baby boy and baby girl', the component 'baby' has different connotations on account of the change of gender effected by the second component. Similarly, the terms 'god' and 'goddess' have intrinsically different connotations according to the verbal viewpoint. The expression 'mean' which is a singular noun stands for a condition or quality, whereas the plural form 'means' stands for money.

The implication of this naya is that meaning of a word necessarily varies with the variation of the tense, gender and number, because no additional part of a word is meaningless. Any additional element in a word is bound to introduce a novelty of meaning.