Flynn, DarinWindsor, Joseph William2012-09-262012-11-132012-09-262012Windsor, J. W. (2012). When nothing exists: The role of zero in the prosodic hierarchy (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/28694http://hdl.handle.net/11023/227Zero (Ø) has been a phonological tool for over a century used to explain linguistic phenomena where language-specific rules either under or over-apply. This tool has often been argued to be 'dangerous' since it gives 'additional power to the system' (Stanley 1967). This long-standing controversy has lead to many authors arguing against analyses of phenomena that rely on Ø. This opposition to Ø often leads those authors to relegate a given phenomenon to the lexicon rather than maintaining a phonological explanation for a given sound change. While the skepticism of those authors may be warranted, what is lacking from the field is a list of criteria by which to evaluate proposals of Ø. This thesis examines cases of proposed Øs in several languages to propose a list of four criteria which can be used as a general guideline for either warranting or eliminating Ø in a particular phonological analysis.engUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.LinguisticsPhonologyProsodicZeroCriteriaEmpty categorymaster thesishttp://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/28694