Re: IPA Null Consonant

Peter_Constable@xxxxxxx writes:

> [...]
> 
> Thomas M. Widmann wrote on 05/26/2003 06:01:39 AM:
> [...]
> > > I agree the EMPTY SET symbol is the right character to use.  It
> > > has the right semantics, and in most fonts it will look
> > > sufficiently different from the IPA vowel symbol O WITH STROKE.
> >
> > The only alternative I can think of would be U+0030 DIGIT ZERO, but
> > that would look wrong in most fonts.
> 
> EMPTY SET is probably the better choice for that reason.

But the question is whether it is the right one nevertheless.

As Pullum writes in his "Phonetic Symbol Guide":

   Null Sign

   This has has no phonetic value, [...]
   Dinnsen (1974, 43) uses the slightly different null set symbol <∅>
   as the notation for a phonological segment "specified minus for all
   features" [...]

I cannot represent the graphical page here, but his NULL SIGN is quite
slender, very much like a zero with a stroke, while the null set
symbol seems to be just as wide as it is tall, just as the EMPTY SET
symbol shown in the Unicode book.

I tend to agree with him that the normal visual representation of this
character in linguistics is different -- for instance, it was quite
slender in all the books I quoted earlier.

> > If U+2205 EMPTY SET is indeed the right character, it might be an
> > idea to give it an extra name (LINGUISTIC NULL or LINGUISTIC
> > ZERO), since its meaning is of course not "empty set" but rather
> > "empty element".
> 
> An annotation about could be added, though I probably wouldn't
> suggest an alias: it isn't commonly known as "linguistic null" or
> "linguistic zero".

Yes, I think you're right that an annotation is best -- but only if
EMPTY SET is indeed the right character.  I'm increasingly of the
opinion that a different character might be needed.

> If you want to see an annotation, you could make such a request to
> UTC.

Yes.  Or I could suggest a new character, I guess.

/Thomas
-- 
Thomas Widmann, MA          member of the steering group for europa.*
       Mavisbank Gardens, Glasgow, Scotland, EU
thomas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx             http://www.widmann.uklinux.net


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