Editing Asterisk (section)

===Linguistics===
{{anchor|Linguistics}}
In [[linguistics]], an asterisk may be used for a range of purposes depending on what is being discussed. The symbol is used to indicate reconstructed words of [[proto-languages]] (for which there are no records). For modern languages, it may be placed before posited problematic word forms, phrases or sentences to flag that they are hypothetical, ungrammatical, unpronounceable, etc. 

Historical linguist [[August Schleicher]] is cited as first using the asterisk for linguistic purposes, specifically for [[unattested form]]s that are [[linguistic reconstruction]]s.<ref name="Golla"/>{{rp|208}}

Using the asterisk for descriptive and not just historical purposes arose in the 20th century.<ref name="Graffi"/>{{rp|334}} By analogy with its use in historical linguistics, the asterisk was variously prepended to "hypothetical" or "unattested" elements in modern language.<ref name="Graffi"/>{{rp|332}} Its usage also expanded to include "non-existent" or "impossible" forms. [[Leonard Bloomfield]] (1933) uses the asterisk with forms such as ''*cran,'' impossible to occur in isolation: ''cran-'' only occurs within the compound ''cranberry''.<ref name="Bloomfield"/>{{rp|160}}<ref name="Graffi"/>{{rp|331}} Such usage for a "non-existent form" was also found in French, German and Italian works in the middle of the 20th century.<ref name="Graffi"/>{{rp|332–34}}

Asterisk usage in linguistics later came to include not just impossible forms, but "[[ungrammatical]] sentences", those that are "ill formed for the native speaker".<ref name="Graffi"/>{{rp|332}} The expansion of asterisk usage to entire sentences is often credited to [[Noam Chomsky]], but Chomsky in 1968 already describes this usage as "conventional".<ref name="Graffi"/>{{rp|330}} Linguist Fred Householder claims some credit,<ref name="Householder"/>{{rp|365}}<ref name="Graffi"/>{{rp|331}} but Giorgio Graffi argues that using an asterisk for this purpose predates his works.<ref name="Graffi"/>{{rp|336}}{{efn|''"...Chomsky adopted, with some delay, a convention which had been (possibly) circulated among generative grammarians by Householder. However, Householder (who was not a generative grammarian) was simply following a practice which had already been introduced by others, and which was so automatic as to be adopted almost unconsciously."''<ref name="Graffi"/>{{rp|336}}}}

The meaning of the asterisk usage in specific linguistic works may go unelucidated so can be unclear.<ref name="Householder"/>{{rp|369}}{{efn|The numerous and confusing uses are detailed in Householder (1973).<ref name="Householder"/>}} Linguistics sometimes uses double asterisks ({{code|**}}), another symbol such as the [[question mark]], or both symbols (e.g. {{code|?*}}) to indicate degrees of unacceptability.<ref name="Householder"/>{{rp|369}}

==== Historical linguistics ====
In [[historical linguistics]], the asterisk marks words or phrases that are not directly recorded in texts or other media, and that are therefore [[linguistic reconstruction|reconstructed]] on the basis of other linguistic material by the [[comparative method]].<ref>{{cite web | url= https://thelanguagenerds.com/how-do-we-know-that-proto-indo-european-actually-existed/ | title= Here is how linguists know that extinct languages existed | website= thelanguagenerds.com | access-date= 21 August 2020 | archive-date= 18 August 2020 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200818190807/https://thelanguagenerds.com/how-do-we-know-that-proto-indo-european-actually-existed/ | url-status= dead }}</ref>

In the following example, the [[Proto-Germanic]] word {{lang|gem-x-proto|ainlif}} is a reconstructed form.
* {{lang|gem-x-proto|*ainlif}} → {{wikt-lang|ang|endleofan}} → ''eleven''

A double asterisk ({{code|**}}) sometimes indicates an intermediary or proximate reconstructed form (e.g. a single asterisk for reconstructed [[Old Mandarin|thirteenth century Chinese]] and a double asterisk for reconstructions of older [[Old Chinese|Ancient Chinese]]<ref name="Cheng"/>{{rp|5}} or a double asterisk for proto-[[Popolocan languages|Popolocan]] and a single asterisk for intermediary forms<ref name="Veerman"/>{{rp|322}}).

In other cases, the double asterisk denotes a form that would be expected according to a rule, but is not actually found. That is, it indicates a reconstructed form that is not found or used, and in place of which ''another'' form is found in actual usage:
* For the plural, *{{lang|ar-Latn|*kubar}} would be expected, but separate masculine plural {{lang|ar-Latn|akābir}} {{wikt-lang|ar|أكابر}} and feminine plural {{lang|ar-Latn|kubrayāt}} {{wikt-lang|ar|كبريات}} are found as irregular forms.

==== Ungrammaticality ====
{{Anchor|Generative linguistics|Grammaticality asterisk}}
In most areas of linguistics, but especially in [[syntax]], an asterisk in front of a word or phrase indicates that the word or phrase is not used because it is [[ungrammatical]].<ref name="Graffi"/>{{rp|332}}
*wake her up / *wake up her
An asterisk before a parenthesis indicates that the lack of the word or phrase inside is ungrammatical, while an asterisk after the opening bracket of the parenthesis indicates that the existence of the word or phrase inside is ungrammatical—e.g., the following indicates "go the station" would be ungrammatical:
*go *(to) the station

Use of an asterisk to denote forms or sentences that are ungrammatical is often complemented by the use of the [[question mark]] ({{code|?}}) to indicate a word, phrase or sentence that is avoided, questionable or strange, but not necessarily outright ungrammatical.{{efn|One article notes succinctly that ''"...common practice in linguistics [is that] an asterisk preceding a word, a clause or a sentence is used to indicate ungrammaticality or unacceptability, while a question mark is used to indicate questionable usage"'',<ref name="Xu"/>{{rp|15}} another that, ''"A question mark indicates that the example is marginal; an asterisk indicates unacceptability"''<ref name="Simons"/>{{rp|409}} and another that ''"examples preceded by an asterisk are ungrammatical, and those preceded by a question mark would be considered strange"''.<ref name="Everett"/>{{rp|623}}}}

Other sources go further and use several symbols (e.g. the asterisk, question mark, and [[degree symbol]] {{code|°}}) to indicate gradations or a continuum of acceptability.{{efn|One example is ''"rough approximations of acceptability are given in four gradations and indicated as follows: normal and preferred, no mark; acceptable but not preferred, degree sign {{code|°}}; marginally acceptable, question mark ({{code|?}}); unacceptable, asterisk ({{code|*}})."''<ref name="Timberlake"/>{{rp|123–24}}}}

===== Ambiguity =====
Since a word marked with an asterisk could mean either "unattested" or "impossible", it is important in some contexts to distinguish these meanings. In general, authors retain asterisks for "unattested", and prefix <sup>{{code|x}}</sup>, {{code|**}}, {{code|†}}, or {{code|?}} for the latter meaning.{{efn|For example, one linguistic article states that, ''"A question mark ({{code|?}}) denotes uncertainty; an asterisk ({{code|*}}) indicates a classificatory base not encountered in my own data."''<ref name="Benton"/>{{rp|119}}}}  An alternative is to append the asterisk (or another symbol, possibly to differentiate between even more cases) at the end.{{Citation needed|date=January 2018}}

====Optimality theory====
In [[optimality theory]], asterisks are used as "violation marks" in tableau cells to denote a violation of a constraint by an output form.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=McCarthy |first1=John J. |title=What Is Optimality Theory? |journal=Language and Linguistics Compass |date=2007 |volume=1 |issue=4 |page=268 |doi=10.1111/j.1749-818X.2007.00018.x |url=http://scholarworks.umass.edu/linguist_faculty_pubs/93/ |access-date=2017-05-02 |archive-date=2017-04-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170403103350/http://scholarworks.umass.edu/linguist_faculty_pubs/93/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Phonetic transcription ====
In phonetic transcription using the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]] and similar systems, an asterisk was historically used to denote that the word it preceded was a proper noun.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=International Phonetic Association|title=''The Principles of the International Phonetic Association'' (1949)|journal=Journal of the International Phonetic Association|date=2010|volume=40|issue=3|page=317|doi=10.1017/S0025100311000089|s2cid=232345365|url=http://archive.org/details/principlesofinte00inteuoft|hdl=2027/wu.89001200120|hdl-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Vachek |first1=Josef |editor1-last=Luelsdorff |editor1-first=Philip A. |title=Written Language Revisited |date=1989 |publisher=John Benjamins |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZC2mKVQXk_sC&pg=PA152 |chapter=Remarks on redundancy in written language with special regard to capitalization of graphemes |doi=10.1075/z.41 |orig-date=1987 |page=152|isbn=978-90-272-2064-6 }}</ref> See this example from W. Perrett's 1921 transcription of Gottfried Keller's {{lang|de|Das Fähnlein der sieben Aufrechten}}:<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Perrett|first1=W.|title={{IPA|dɔytʃ}}|journal=Textes pour nos Élèves|date=1921|volume=1|page=4|publisher=Association Phonétique Internationale |hdl=2027/wu.89048935472?urlappend=%3Bseq=8 |hdl-access=free}}</ref>
:{{IPA|ˈkɑinə ˈreːdə}}, {{IPA|virt ˈniçts daˈraˑus}}! {{IPA|zɑːktə *ˈheːdigər ˈkurts}}.
:(''{{lang|de|»Keine Rede, wird nichts daraus!« sagte Hediger kurz.}}'')

This convention is no longer usual.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Pullum|first1=Geoffrey K.|last2=Ladusaw|first2=William A.|title=Phonetic Symbol Guide|date=1996|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago|page=228|edition=2nd|chapter=Asterisk}}</ref>