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Information about Null Morpheme

In morpheme-based morphology, a null morpheme is a morpheme that is realized by a phonologically null affix (an empty string of phonological segments). In simpler terms, a null morpheme is an "invisible" affix. It's also called zero morpheme; the process of adding a null morpheme is called null affixation, null derivation or zero derivation. The concept was first used over two thousand years ago by Pāṇini in his Sanskrit grammar. (Some linguists object to the notion of a null morpheme, since it sets up (they say) an unverifiable distinction between a "null" or "zero" element, and nothing at all.)

The null morpheme is represented as either the figure zero (0), the empty set symbol ø, or its variant Ø.

Examples in English include hiatus and co-operation.

The existence of a null morpheme in a word can also be theorized by contrast with other forms of the same word showing alternate morphemes. For example, the singular number of English nouns is shown by a null morpheme that contrasts with the plural morpheme -s.
  • cat = cat + -Ø = ROOT ("cat") + SINGULAR
  • cats = cat + -s = ROOT ("cat") + PLURAL
In addition, there are some cases in English where a null morpheme indicates plurality in nouns that take on irregular plurals.
  • sheep = sheep + -Ø = ROOT ("sheep") + SINGULAR
  • sheep = sheep + -Ø = ROOT ("sheep") + PLURAL
Also, a null morpheme marks the present tense of verbs in all forms but the third person singular:
  • (I) run = run + -Ø = ROOT ("run") + PRESENT: Non-3rd-SING
  • (He) runs = run + -s = ROOT ("run") + PRESENT: 3rd-SING
According to some linguists' view, it's also a null morpheme that turns some English adjectives into verbs of the kind of to clean, to slow, to warm. Null derivation, also known as conversion if the word class changes, is very common in English.

In languages that show the above distinctions, it's quite common to employ null affixation to (not) mark singular number, present tense and third persons (English is unusual in its marking of the third person singular with a non-zero morpheme, by contrast with a null morpheme for others). It's also frequent to find null affixation for the least-marked cases (the nominative in nominative-accusative languages, and the absolutive in ergative-absolutive languages).

In most languages of the world these are the affixes that are realized as null morphemes. But in some cases roots may alse be realized as these. For instance, Russian word вы-Ø-ну-ть (vynut', to take out) consists of one prefix (вы-), one zero root (-Ø-), one suffix (-ну-), and one postfix (-ть).

A basic radical element plus a null morpheme is not the same as an uninflected word, though usage may make those equal in practice.

See also

In morpheme-based morphology, a morpheme is the smallest linguistic unit that has semantic meaning. In spoken language, morphemes are composed of phonemes (the smallest linguistically distinctive units of sound), and in written language morphemes are composed of graphemes (the
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For the journal, see .
Phonology (Greek φωνή (phōnē), voice, sound + λόγος (lógos), word, speech, subject of discussion), is a subfield of linguistics which studies the sound system of a
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An affix is a morpheme that is attached to a base morpheme such as a root or to a stem, to form a word. Affixes may be derivational, like English -ness and pre-, or inflectional, like English plural -s and past tense -ed.
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Sanskrit}}}  | style="padding-left: 0.5em;" | Writing system: | colspan="2" style="padding-left: 0.5em;" | Devanāgarī and several other Brāhmī-based scripts  ! colspan="3" style="text-align: center; color: black; background-color: lawngreen;"|Official
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Grammar is the study of the rules governing the use of a given natural language, and as such a field of linguistics. Traditionally, grammar included morphology and syntax, in modern linguistics commonly expanded by the subfields of phonetics, phonology, orthography, semantics, and
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empty set is the unique set which contains no elements. In axiomatic set theory it is postulated to exist by the axiom of empty set. The empty set is also sometimes called the null set
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Hiatus may refer to:
  • A break or interruption in the continuity of a work, series, action, etc. (See Recess)
  • A natural fissure in a bone (see Foramen)
  • A small difference in pitch between two musical tones (see Interval (music))

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A word is a unit of language that carries meaning and consists of one or more morphemes which are linked more or less tightly together, and has a phonetical value. Typically a word will consist of a root or stem and zero or more affixes.
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English}}} 
Writing system: Latin (English variant) 
Official status
Official language of: 53 countries
Regulated by: no official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-1: en
ISO 639-2: eng
ISO 639-3: eng  
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Examples
A proper or common noun can co-occur with an article or an attributive adjective. Verbs and adjectives can't. As usual, a `*' in front of an example means that this example is ungrammatical.
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verb is a word belonging to the part of speech that usually denotes an action (bring, read), an occurrence (decompose, glitter), or a state of being (exist, stand).
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    In grammar, an adjective is a word whose main syntactic role is to modify a noun or pronoun (called the adjective's subject), giving more information about what the noun or pronoun refers to.
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    In linguistics, conversion, also called zero derivation, is a kind of word formation; specifically, it is the creation of a word from an existing word without any change in form.
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    In grammar, a lexical category (also word class, lexical class, or in traditional grammar part of speech) is a linguistic category of words (or more precisely lexical items
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    See Language (journal) for the linguistics journal.


    A language is a system of symbols and the rules used to manipulate them. Language can also refer to the use of such systems as a general phenomenon.
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    Markedness is a linguistic concept that developed out of the Prague School (also known as the Prague linguistic circle).

    A marked form is a non-basic or less natural form. An unmarked form is a basic, default form.
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    This article or section may be confusing or unclear for some readers.
    Please [improve the article] or discuss this issue on the talk page. This article has been tagged since August 2007.
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    The nominative case is a grammatical case for a noun, which generally marks the subject of a verb, as opposed to its object or other verb arguments. (Basically, it is a noun that is doing something, usually joined (such as in Latin) with the accusative case.
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    A nominative-accusative language (or simply accusative language) is one that marks the direct object of transitive verbs distinguishing them from the subject of both transitive and intransitive verbs.
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    In ergative-absolutive languages, the absolutive (abbreviated ABS ) is the grammatical case used to mark both the subject of an intransitive verb and the object of a transitive verb. It contrasts with the ergative case, which marks the subject of transitive verbs.
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    An ergative-absolutive language (or simply ergative) is one that treats the agent of transitive verbs distinctly from the subject of intransitive verbs and the object of transitive verbs.

    Ergative vs.


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    The root is the primary lexical unit of a word, which carries the most significant aspects of semantic content and cannot be reduced into smaller constituents. Content words in nearly all languages contain, and may consist only of, root morphemes.
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    Russian}}} 
    Writing system: Cyrillic (Russian variant)  
    Official status
    Official language of:  Abkhazia (Georgia)
     Belarus
     Commonwealth of Independent States (working)
     Crimea (de facto; Ukraine)
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    An affix is a morpheme that is attached to a base morpheme such as a root or to a stem, to form a word. Affixes may be derivational, like English -ness and pre-, or inflectional, like English plural -s and past tense -ed.
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    The root is the primary lexical unit of a word, which carries the most significant aspects of semantic content and cannot be reduced into smaller constituents. Content words in nearly all languages contain, and may consist only of, root morphemes.
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    suffix — a form of affix — follows the morpheme to which it attaches. Suffixes can be inflectional or derivational.

    An inflectional suffix is sometimes called a desinence.
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    An ending is a kind of affix which is added to a word in declension or conjugation.

    Examples:

    boys (plural)
    he makes (third person singular present tense)
    he closed (past tense)

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    In the context of linguistic morphology, an uninflected word is a word that has no morphological markers (inflection) such as affixes, ablaut, consonant gradation, etc., indicating declension or conjugation.
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    For the journal, see .
    Linguistics is the scientific study of language, which can be theoretical or applied. Someone who engages in this study is called a linguist.
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    For other uses, see Morphology.
    Morphology is the field within linguistics that studies the internal structure of words. (Words as units in the lexicon are the subject matter of lexicology.
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