Sarvadarshanasangraha 13.42

13.42

Since the designation 'word' (pada) is prescribed only for phonemes ending in an inflection by Pāṇini as 'what ends in sup and tiṅ is a word' and by Gautama as 'those ending in an inflection are a word', the cognition of a word will occur only regarding phonemes, by virtue of the assistance of the apprehension of linguistic convention. If it is objected: 'Then in this word sara there are as many phonemes as there are in rasa; thus in vana and nava, nadī and dīnā, rāma and māra, rājā and jārā, and so on, there would be no apprehension of a difference in meaning,'