Nul i sprog

Om betydningsbærende fravær og analysen af nultegn

Resumé

Zero as a type of expression has been part of linguistic analysis at least since Saussure, who stated that a language may express an element of meaning simply by contrasting something with nothing. Based on a functional approach to language and with commutation and the difference which makes a difference as key concepts, the paper discusses the theoretical and methodological basis for the use of zero signs in the analysis of linguistic structures. The paper provides examples of zero signs, all from the domain of morphology, from several different languages. Four criteria for positing zero signs are presented, and the nature of the zero sign is discussed. A central point is that zero expression is an operation rather than a segment (i.e., a type of phonetic substance), and that the zero does not have or hold a determinate position in the linear structure. The outlined understanding of the zero sign is applied in an analysis of the absence of the Danish enclitic genitive marker =s that posits a non-genitive zero sign.