Zero affixes in derivational morphology: Introduction

Abstract In this paper we offer an overview of the linguistic phenomena that have traditionally been handled by means zero affixes and theoretical debate around advantages disadvantages employing such null morphemes in modeling. While advantage positing is straightforward from empirical perspective (see inflectional syncretism affixless category change, among others), their legitimacy has controversially debated for several decades. overview, present main problems brought forward against affixation some mechanisms proposed as alternative. Finally, show how different articles our edited collection contribute to addressing following three research questions: (1) How do current theories derivational morphology deal with seem involve affixes? (2) compare “overt analogues” (i. e. overt affixes)? (3) What insights can obtain language-specific properties, typological generalizations and/or larger data-oriented studies on question whether necessary morphology?