In this article, the author first refers to zero in Arabian arithmetic, the concept of which originated in India. He then goes on to explore the concept of zero used in the linguistic descriptions of Panini of ancient India and N. Motoori of 18th century Japan.
Finally, he deals with the use of zero by F. de Saussure and his pupils, Baudouin de Courtenay, R. Jakobson and others in modern linguistics. The author regards‘signe zéro’ and ‘zéro suffixe’ in Saussure's pupils' original lecture notes (
Cours de linguistique gdnerale (CLG) edited by R. Engler, 192, 424) as conceptually different from ‘zéro signe’ and‘suffixe zéro’ respectively. In the corresponding places (pp.124, 256) of the version (1931
3) of
CLG published by C. Bally and A. Sechehaye, the term ‘signe zéro’ remains as it was, but ‘zéro suffixe’ is replaced by ‘suffixe zéro’.
It is the opinion of the author that the term‘zéro’ in the expression ‘zéro suffixe’ can be interpreted to mean the absence of one grammatical element in a linguistic form. On the other hand, the term ‘zéro’ in the expression ‘signe zéro’ seems to mean the absence of sound which functions in the same way as the ‘signifiant ’ in ‘signe linguistique ’. He suggests that the distinction between these two zeroes seems to be similar to the one between zero used as a place holder in a number (e.g. 108, 180) and zero used as a number. This distinction was pointed out by T. Hayashi in his study of ancient Indian mathematics. The concepts of ‘signe zéro’ and ‘suffixe zéro’ were developed later by the Genevan School.
As an instance of zero in linguistic description, the author gives a 0 suffix in Uilta, a Tungus language spoken on Sakhalin Island.
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