The type–token distinction is the difference between a ''type'' of objects (analogous to a ''class'') and the individual ''tokens'' of that type (analogous to ''instances''). Since each type may be instantiated by multiple tokens, there are generally more tokens than types of an object. For example, the sentence "A Rose is a rose is a rose" contains three word types: three word tokens of the type ''a'', two word tokens of the type ''is,'' and three word tokens of the type ''rose''. The distinction is important in disciplines such as

logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the study of deductively valid inferences or logical truths. It examines how conclusions follow from premises based on the structure o ...

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

, metalogic,

typography Typography is the art and technique of Typesetting, arranging type to make written language legibility, legible, readability, readable and beauty, appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, Point (typogra ...

, and

computer programming Computer programming or coding is the composition of sequences of instructions, called computer program, programs, that computers can follow to perform tasks. It involves designing and implementing algorithms, step-by-step specifications of proc ...

Overview

The type–token distinction separates ''types'' (abstract descriptive concepts) from ''tokens'' (objects that instantiate concepts). For example, in the sentence "''the bicycle is becoming more popular''" the word ''bicycle'' represents the abstract concept of bicycles and this abstract concept is a type, whereas in the sentence "''the bicycle is in the garage''", it represents a particular object and this particular object is a token. Similarly, the word type 'letter' uses only four letter types: ''L'', ''E'', ''T'' and ''R''. Nevertheless, it uses both ''E'' and ''T'' twice. One can say that the word type 'letter' has six letter tokens, with two tokens each of the letter types ''E'' and ''T''. Whenever a word type is inscribed, the number of letter tokens created equals the number of letter occurrences in the word type. Some logicians consider a word type to be the class of its tokens. Other logicians counter that the word type has a permanence and constancy not found in the class of its tokens. The type remains the same while the class of its tokens is continually gaining new members and losing old members.

Typography

, the type–token distinction is used to determine the presence of a text printed by

movable type Movable type (US English; moveable type in British English) is the system and technology of printing and typography that uses movable Sort (typesetting), components to reproduce the elements of a document (usually individual alphanumeric charac ...

Charles Sanders Peirce

The distinctions between using words as types or tokens were first made by American logician and philosopher

Charles Sanders Peirce Charles Sanders Peirce ( ; September 10, 1839 – April 19, 1914) was an American scientist, mathematician, logician, and philosopher who is sometimes known as "the father of pragmatism". According to philosopher Paul Weiss (philosopher), Paul ...

in 1906 using terminology that he established.Charles Sanders Peirce, Prolegomena to an apology for pragmaticism, Monist, vol.16 (1906), pp. 492–546. Peirce's type–token distinction applies to words, sentences, paragraphs and so on: to anything in a universe of discourse of character-string theory, or concatenation theory. Peirce's original words are the following:

References

Sources

*Baggin J. and Fosl P. (2003) ''The Philosopher's Toolkit''. Blackwell: 171-73. . *Peper F., Lee J., Adachi S., Isokawa T. (2004) ''Token-Based Computing on Nanometer Scales'', Proceedings of the ToBaCo 2004 Workshop on Token Based Computing, Vol.1 pp. 1–18.

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