Break Index 0

This break index marks junctures which are common in fast speech processes, in which there is a very small sense of disjuncture between adjacent words. This may include phenomena such as weakening of velar stops into approximants across word boundaries, or various contracted forms such as /kore+wa/ [korya] `this-TOP', /yatte+simau/ [yattyau] `do completely', or /no'Nde+iru/ [no'Nderu] `is drinking'.

Break index 0 is marked in the example utterance kazumi between the words /kazumi/ `Kazumi (proper name)' and /ga/ `NOM'. The velar stop is weakened to an approximant, giving the sense of hardly any separation between the words (there is no audible nasalization of the stop here, which is common for some speakers of the Tokyo dialect).

Example utterance zettai shows break index 0 marked at the boundaries between the verb /kuru/ `come' and the quotative particle /to/, and between the verb /itte/ `say' and the perfect progressive marker /ita/. The contracted forms [kurutte] and [itteta] are indicative of the small degree of disjuncture at these boundaries.

<<zettai>> ``But she SAID that she would definitely come ...''