diff --git a/schala-lang/language/src/symbol_table.rs b/schala-lang/language/src/symbol_table.rs
index 86fdbc0..7ca1a16 100644
--- a/schala-lang/language/src/symbol_table.rs
+++ b/schala-lang/language/src/symbol_table.rs
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ use std::fmt;
 use std::fmt::Write;
 
 use crate::ast;
+use crate::ast::Signature;
 use crate::typechecking::TypeName;
 
 //cf. p. 150 or so of Language Implementation Patterns
@@ -65,28 +66,7 @@ impl SymbolTable {
       let statement = statement.node();
       if let Statement::Declaration(decl) = statement {
         match decl {
-          FuncSig(signature) | FuncDecl(signature, _) => {
-            let mut ch: char = 'a';
-            let mut types = vec![];
-            for param in signature.params.iter() {
-              match param {
-                (_, Some(_ty)) => {
-                  //TODO eventually handle this case different
-                  types.push(Rc::new(format!("{}", ch)));
-                  ch = ((ch as u8) + 1) as char;
-                },
-                (_, None) => {
-                  types.push(Rc::new(format!("{}", ch)));
-                  ch = ((ch as u8) + 1) as char;
-                }
-              }
-            }
-            let spec = SymbolSpec::Func(types);
-            self.values.insert(
-              signature.name.clone(),
-              Symbol { name: signature.name.clone(), spec }
-              );
-          },
+          FuncSig(signature) | FuncDecl(signature, _) => self.add_function_signature(signature),
           //TODO figure out why _params isn't being used here
           TypeDecl { name: TypeSingletonName { name, params: _params}, body: TypeBody(variants), mutable: _mutable, } => {
             for (index, var) in variants.iter().enumerate() {
@@ -129,4 +109,32 @@ impl SymbolTable {
     }
     output
   }
+
+  fn add_function_signature(&mut self, signature: &Signature) {
+    let mut local_type_context = LocalTypeContext::new();
+    let types = signature.params.iter().map(|param| match param {
+      (_, Some(type_identifier)) => Rc::new(format!("{:?}", type_identifier)),
+      (_, None) => local_type_context.new_universal_type()
+    }).collect();
+    let spec = SymbolSpec::Func(types);
+    self.values.insert(
+      signature.name.clone(),
+      Symbol { name: signature.name.clone(), spec }
+    );
+  }
+}
+
+struct LocalTypeContext {
+  state: u8
+}
+impl LocalTypeContext {
+  fn new() -> LocalTypeContext {
+    LocalTypeContext { state: 0 }
+  }
+
+  fn new_universal_type(&mut self) -> TypeName {
+    let n = self.state;
+    self.state += 1;
+    Rc::new(format!("{}", (('a' as u8) + n) as char))
+  }
 }