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Allomorph

Null allomorph

Null morpheme

Zero (linguistics)

Null morpheme

In morphology, a null morpheme or zero morpheme is a morpheme that has no phonetic form.

Affixation of a null morpheme can be described as "derivation without affixation."

The null morpheme is represented as either the figure zero (0) or the empty set symbol ∅.

The concept was first used over two thousand years ago by 4th century BCE Sanskrit grammarian from ancient India, Pāṇini, in his Sanskrit grammar.

Inflection[edit]
The existence of a null morpheme in a word can also be theorized by contrast with other forms of the same word showing alternative morphemes. For example, the singular number of English nouns is shown by a null morpheme that contrasts with the plural morpheme -s.


 * cat = cat + -∅ = 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 + -∅ = ROOT ("sheep") + SINGULAR
 * sheep = sheep + -∅ = ROOT ("sheep") + PLURAL

Also, a null morpheme marks the present tense of English verbs in all forms but the third person singular:


 * (I) run = run + -∅ = ROOT ("run") + PRESENT: Non-3rd-SINGULAR
 * (He) runs = run + -s = ROOT ("run") + PRESENT: 3rd-SINGULAR

References

Note: All of the examples under Inflection come from the same source.