 According to the Sautrāntika philosophy, language does not describe reality or unique particulars positively through real universals as suggested by the Naiyāyikas. The Sautrāntika developed an alternative nominalist theory of universal called the apoha-theory in which language is seen to engage with reality negatively by means of elimination or exclusion of the other (anyāpoha / gzhan sel). On this theory, the function of language, specifically naming, is to eliminate object from the class of those objects to which language does not apply.