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Example
Latin interlinear gloss with zero morpheme (ø)
puer-ø glossed as boy-NOM: an overt ø marks a null nominative case exponent in the object line.
Example layout based on an example in the Wikipedia article Interlinear gloss (illustrative; Leipzig-style conventions).
What this example shows
Latin puer means “boy”, and it is in the nominative case even though no ending is pronounced. To show that the case is there but silent, the source line writes an overt ø: puer-ø, glossed boy-NOM. The example is a small but precise case of marking something that has meaning but no sound.
A case with no sound
The noun and its silent case ending:
- puer boy
- The noun stem, “boy”.
- -ø NOM
- The nominative case, present in the grammar but with no audible ending. The ø stands in for the missing form.
Why mark a zero
Some noun classes in Latin, Greek, and other languages mark a case by the absence of an ending rather than a visible suffix. Writing puer-ø with an overt ø keeps the gloss honest: the boy is a subject in the nominative, and the layout shows that even though nothing is pronounced. The matching hyphen count holds, one piece on each side.
More on the ø mark and the others:
Recreate it in the editor
Open the example and type the ø directly in the source line where a case is silent. Set the morpheme boundary character under Settings → Tokens so the stem and the zero split cleanly, then export the diagram as PNG, SVG, or PDF.
See also
Related examples:
- German umlaut plural marks a category shown inside the word rather than by a separate ending.
- Lezgian morpheme gloss shows visible case stacking for contrast.
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