In
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 ...
, a zero or null is a
segment which is not pronounced or written. It is a useful concept in analysis, indicating lack of an element where one might be expected. It is usually written with the symbol "∅", in Unicode . A common
ad hoc
''Ad hoc'' is a List of Latin phrases, Latin phrase meaning literally for this. In English language, English, it typically signifies a solution designed for a specific purpose, problem, or task rather than a Generalization, generalized solution ...
solution is to use the
Scandinavian capital letter
Ø instead.
There are several kinds of zero:
*In
phonetics
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds or, in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians ...
and
phonology
Phonology (formerly also phonemics or phonematics: "phonemics ''n.'' 'obsolescent''1. Any procedure for identifying the phonemes of a language from a corpus of data. 2. (formerly also phonematics) A former synonym for phonology, often pre ...
, a ''null phoneme'' or ''zero phone'' indicates that no
phone is produced where one might be expected. For example, in
syllable
A syllable is a basic unit of organization within a sequence of speech sounds, such as within a word, typically defined by linguists as a ''nucleus'' (most often a vowel) with optional sounds before or after that nucleus (''margins'', which are ...
structure analysis,
null onset indicates that a syllable lacks an initial consonant (''onset'') that is normally required by
phonotactics
Phonotactics (from Ancient Greek 'voice, sound' and 'having to do with arranging') is a branch of phonology that deals with restrictions in a language on the permissible combinations of phonemes. Phonotactics defines permissible syllable struc ...
of the considered language. For an example, see
Standard Chinese phonology#Zero onset.
*In
morphology
Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to:
Disciplines
*Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts
*Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...
, a
zero morph, consisting of no phonetic form, is an
allomorph
In linguistics, an allomorph is a variant phonetic form of a morpheme, or in other words, a unit of meaning that varies in sound and spelling without changing the meaning. The term ''allomorph'' describes the realization of phonological variatio ...
of a
morpheme
A morpheme is any of the smallest meaningful constituents within a linguistic expression and particularly within a word. Many words are themselves standalone morphemes, while other words contain multiple morphemes; in linguistic terminology, this ...
that is otherwise realized in speech. In the phrase ''two sheep-∅'', the plural marker is a zero morph (see
nouns with identical singular and plural forms), which is an allomorph of ''-s'' as in ''two cows''. In the phrase ''I like-∅ it'', the verb
conjugation
Conjugation or conjugate may refer to:
Linguistics
*Grammatical conjugation, the modification of a verb from its basic form
*Emotive conjugation or Russell's conjugation, the use of loaded language
Mathematics
*Complex conjugation, the change o ...
has a zero affix, as opposed to the third-person singular present ''-s'' in ''he likes it''.
*In
grammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of rules for how a natural language is structured, as demonstrated by its speakers or writers. Grammar rules may concern the use of clauses, phrases, and words. The term may also refer to the study of such rul ...
, a zero
pronoun
In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun (Interlinear gloss, glossed ) is a word or a group of words that one may substitute for a noun or noun phrase.
Pronouns have traditionally been regarded as one of the part of speech, parts of speech, but so ...
occurs in some languages. In the English sentence ''nobody knows ∅'' the zero pronoun plays the role of the object of the verb, and in ''∅ makes no difference'' it plays the role of the subject. Likewise, the zero pronoun in ''the book ∅ I am reading'' plays the role of the relative pronoun ''that'' in ''the book that I am reading''. In
generative grammar
Generative grammar is a research tradition in linguistics that aims to explain the cognitive basis of language by formulating and testing explicit models of humans' subconscious grammatical knowledge. Generative linguists, or generativists (), ...
, this is also referred to as
PRO
Pro is an abbreviation meaning "professional".
Pro, PRO or variants thereof might also refer to:
People
* Miguel Pro (1891–1927), Mexican priest
* Pro Hart (1928–2006), Australian painter
* Mlungisi Mdluli (born 1980), South African ret ...
. In
pronoun-dropping languages, including
null subject languages such as most
Romance languages
The Romance languages, also known as the Latin or Neo-Latin languages, are the languages that are Language family, directly descended from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-E ...
, the zero pronoun is a prominent feature.
*A zero
subordinate conjunction occurs in English in sentences like ''I know ∅ he likes me'', in which the zero conjunction plays the role of the subordinate conjunction ''that'' in ''I know that he likes me''.
*A zero article is an unrealized
indefinite or
definite article
In grammar, an article is any member of a class of dedicated words that are used with noun phrases to mark the identifiability of the referents of the noun phrases. The category of articles constitutes a part of speech.
In English, both "the" ...
in some languages, such as the plural indefinite article in English.
*A
zero copula
Zero copula, also known as null copula, is a linguistic phenomenon whereby the subject is joined to the predicate without overt marking of this relationship (like the copula (linguistics), copula ''to be'' in English). One can distinguish languag ...
, in which a
copula such as the verb ''to be'' is implied but absent. For example, in
Russian
Russian(s) may refer to:
*Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*A citizen of Russia
*Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages
*''The Russians'', a b ...
the copula is usually omitted in the
present tense, as in (literally: 'She beautiful'). In English the copula is sometimes omitted in some
nonstandard dialect
Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken form of language, particularly when perceived as having lower social status or less prestige than standard language, which is more codified, institutionally promoted, literary, or formal. More na ...
s.
See also
*
Empty string
In formal language theory, the empty string, or empty word, is the unique String (computer science), string of length zero.
Formal theory
Formally, a string is a finite, ordered sequence of character (symbol), characters such as letters, digits ...
*
Zero consonant
In orthography, a zero consonant, silent initial, or null-onset letter is a consonant letter that does not correspond to a consonant sound, but is required when a word or syllable starts with a vowel (i.e. has a null onset). Some abjads, abugid ...
*
Silent letter
In an alphabetic writing system, a silent letter is a letter that, in a particular word, does not correspond to any sound in the word's pronunciation. In linguistics, a silent letter is often symbolised with a null sign , which resembles the ...
*
Zero-marking in English Zero-marking in English is the indication of a particular grammatical function by the absence of any morpheme (word, prefix, or suffix). The most common types of zero-marking in English involve English articles#General usage, zero articles, English ...
*
Zero-marking language
A zero-marking language is one with no grammatical marks on neither the dependents (or the modifiers) nor the heads (or the nuclei) that show the relationship between different constituents of a phrase.
Pervasive zero marking is very rare, b ...
References
External links
What is a zero? ''SIL Glossary of linguistic terms''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zero (Linguistics)
Linguistic morphology
Syntax