Zero allomorph

Zero allomorph in English 

 

In morpheme-based morphology, the term null allomorph or zero allomorph is sometimes used to refer to some kind of null morpheme for which there are also contexts in which the underlying morpheme is manifested in the surface structure. It is therefore also an allomorph. The phenomenon itself is known as null allomorphy, morphological blocking or total morpheme blocking. A zero, in linguistics, is a constituent needed in analysis but not realized in speech. Specifically in phonology, it refers to an element that is phonologically null. This implies that there is a lack of an element where a theory would expect one. It is usually written with the symbol "∅", in Unicode U+2205 ∅ EMPTY SET (HTML ∅

• ∅). A common ad hoc solution is to use the Scandinavian capital letter Ø instead. There are several kind of zeros.

• A zero morph,consisting of no phonetic form, is an allomorph of a morpheme that is otherwise realized in speech. In the phrase two sheep-∅, the plural marker is a zero morph, which is an allomorph of -s as in two cows. In the phrase I like-∅ it, the verb conjugation has a zero affix, as opposed to the third-person singular present -s in he likes it.

• A zero pronoun 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. This is also referred to as PRO. In pronoun-dropping languages, including null subject languages such as most Romance languages, 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 some languages.

• A zero copula,in which a copula such as the verb to be is implied but absent. For example, in Russian the copula is usually omitted in the present tense, as in "Она красивая" (literally: She beautiful), the same happening with colloquial Brazilian Portuguese, as in "irônicos, aqueles" (literally: ironic, those [guys]), though never with the adjective coming after the subject as usual in Romance languages. In English the copula is sometimes omitted in some nonstandard dialects.


 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Null_allomorph
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_%28linguistics%29