Inlinguistics, azero ornull is asegment that is not pronounced or written. It is a useful concept in analysis, indicating the lack of an element where one might be expected. It is usually written with the symbol "∅", in UnicodeU+2205∅EMPTY SET (∅, ∅, ∅, ∅). A commonad hoc solution is to use theScandinavian capital letterØ instead.
There are several kinds of zero:
Inphonetics andphonology, anull phoneme orzero phone indicates that nophone is produced where one might be expected. For example, insyllable structure analysis, anull onset indicates that a syllable lacks an initial consonant (onset) that is normally required by thephonotactics of the considered language. For example, seeStandard Chinese phonology#Zero onset.
Inmorphology, azero morph,[1] consisting of no phonetic form, is anallomorph of amorpheme that is otherwise realized in speech. In the phrasetwo sheep ∅, the plural marker is a zero morph (seenouns with identical singular and plural forms), which is an allomorph of-s as intwo cows. In the phraseI like-∅ it, the verbconjugation has a zero affix, as opposed to the third-person singular present-s inhe likes it.
Ingrammar, a zeropronoun occurs in some languages.[2] In the English sentencenobody knows ∅ that the zero pronoun plays the role of the object of the verb, and in∅ makes no difference that it plays the role of the subject. Likewise, the zero pronoun inthe book ∅ I am reading plays the role of the relative pronoun inthe book that I am reading. Ingenerative grammar, this is also referred to asPRO. Inpronoun-dropping languages, includingnull subject languages such as mostRomance languages, the zero pronoun is a prominent feature.
A zerosubordinate conjunction occurs in English in sentences likeI know ∅ he likes me, in which the zero conjunction plays the role of the subordinate conjunctionthat inI know that he likes me.
A zero article is an unrealizedindefinite ordefinite article in some languages, such as the plural indefinite article in English.
Azero copula,[3] in which acopula such as the verbto be is implied but absent. For example, inRussian the copula is usually omitted in thepresent tense, as inОна красивая (literally: 'She beautiful'). In English the copula is sometimes omitted in somenonstandard dialects.[4]
