Correction, counter-correction in respect of alphabetical cum numerical realisation of zero in mobile phone number dictation

By Samson Oluga

Astonishingly, the number ‘zero’ which is symbolically represented by ‘0’ that is having the lowest of values of all positive numbers which is equal to nought or nothing will become so topical to be the subject of polemic discourses even among academics or scholars trying to advocate linguistic correctness. These are people who can be regarded as advocates of the “the medium is the message” theoretical doctrine of Marshal McLuhan, the outstanding communication scholar of blessed memory. They always stress the need for grammatical and acceptable language use via the instrumentality of lexical, syntactic, semantic, morphological and phonological correctness in human communication especially among the up-and-coming youths of our contemporary society. It is also amazing that the polemic conversation or discussion is in respect of a look-alike alphabetical letter with a closely related symbol ‘o’ and usually placed close to each other on the keyboards of computers and mobile phones.

The former, that is, the number ‘0’ is obviously and axiomatically numerical while the latter, that is, the letter ‘o’ is clearly alphabetical. The former number ‘0’ is bi-syllabic while the latter letter ‘o’ is monosyllabic which, based on the alphabetical system, looks like a typical monophthong but which in reality and based on the speech sound system is actually a diphthong. The two are often mistakenly used interchangeably when typing messages on a mobile phone or when keying information on the computer system or any other electronic device. This is simply because of their symbolic similitude as a result of which such an interchangeable use is usually seen or regarded as a typographical error or minor mistake that can be easily corrected and even when not noticed or corrected it does not have any serious or negative implication on the semantic interpretation of the message or information so communicated. It is important to note that many people with optical or ophthalmological challenges will quite easily use or type the numerical ‘0’ and the alphabetic ‘o’ interchangeably.

The maiden correction came stressing and warning that zero (0) as in the mobile phone number is purely numerical and not alphabetical, just as other numbers or numerals in typical mobile phone numbers, hence, should not be given a treatment that is quite different from other numbers or numerals by being given an alphabetical phonetic or phonemic realization in the first instance. Hence, the zero so written as zero (0) should be pronounced as zero /ˈzɪərəʊ/, that is, simply as written and not as ‘o’ /əʊ/ which is the phonemic diphthongal realization of the vowel letter ‘o’ of the English alphabetical system. This corrective argument sounds logical because the matter, just as often said in the legal parlance, speaks for itself, that is, the case is Res Ipsa Loquitur. This is simply because the number ‘0’ that happens to be subject of the ensuing linguistic tussle or phonemic polemics is actually and obviously a figure and not in any way an alphabet or a letter. So, what many sound minds who were privy to this well-articulated linguistic argument simply did was to comply as often done when duly and convincingly corrected especially by those considered to be linguistically versatile or competent and whose logical linguistic submissions have been published over and over in reputable dailies and journals.

Many have learnt about correct and incorrect use of words and expressions through newspaper, journal and online publications of revered language experts and effective communication coaches who try to impart the knowledge that people need to speak and write right. They follow the write-ups and speeches of people in the contemporary society and try to identify ungrammatical usages which many people feel are acceptable but which in actual fact are erroneous. This way, many have got to know that expressions like “I sensed where he was going and what he was trying to do from the onset”, “Please, try to round up your discussing in ten minutes”, “I can’t believe they rejected such a logic advice outrightly” and “It is high time we decide the way forward and who should lead us” are not grammatically correct. They have also learnt that the correct and grammatical versions of these expressions are “I sensed where he was going and what he was trying to do from the outset”, “Please, try to round off your discussion in ten minutes”, “I can’t believe they rejected such a logic advice outright” and “It is high time we decided the way forward and who should lead us” respectively.

The counter correction nullifying the earlier posited maiden correction in support of the numerical pronunciation of the number zero (0) and the alphabetical pronunciation of the vowel letter ‘o’ came right on the campus of the Fountain University, Osogbo. This was during the presentation of the advertisement campaign group work of students of the Department of Mass Communication. The lead assessor, being an ace broadcaster and a scholarly media executive with zero tolerance for imperfect or incorrect pronunciation listed a number words or expressions wrongly pronounced by some of the group presenters and showed how they should be properly pronounced. One of the words he identified is the polysyllabic word ‘entrepreneurship’ which has a French etymology and whose first syllable ‘en’ should be realized as /ɒn/ just as in French and not the Anglicized /en/, hence, the word ‘entrepreneurship’ should be correctly pronounced as /ˌɒntrəprəˈnəʃɪp/. He actually confirmed what was said about him being a proponent of grammatical language use and impeccable pronunciation as far as his expectations of Mass Communication students are concerned. 

In rounding off his pre-assessment-declaration/presentation preamble, he pointed out straight from the shoulders that the common pronunciation of the zero (0) as /ˈzɪərəʊ/ while dictating mobile phone numbers to people is totally incorrect as far as communication in English is concerned. He further implored Mass Communication students present to always avoid such an unacceptable mistake especially in speech communication. This came as a rude shock because it diametrically negates the former correction and this necessitated the need to seek more knowledge for clarification even if it means going as far as China and to examine all things before holding what is true and good as scripturally admonished. Intensive online exploration became imperative immediately to know the positions of language experts across the globe especially those who are first language or mother tongue users of English in United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. This became pertinent because the “World Englishes”, using the title of some books, are not exactly the same in all cases. What is called ‘soft drink’ in United Kingdom is called ‘soda’ in the United State and ‘pop’ in nearby Canada. 

In a nutshell, the extensive linguistic exploration done for the purpose of conformation or clarification actually revealed that the zero in mobile phone number is usually realized or pronounced as the alphabet letter ‘o’ by most native speakers of English all over the world. Cristobal Gomez in an article at Kaplan International Language Site (kaplaninternational.com) explained further that the agent name of James Bond ‘007’ is realized as ‘double oh seven’ and not as ‘double zero seven’ just as the zero in past years like ‘1808’ and ‘1908’ are realized as ‘oh’ and not as ‘zero’. However, the writer further explains that some native speakers of English even in United States still pronounce the zero in the mobile phone number as /ˈzɪərəʊ/ though they are in the minority and not in the majority. Some speakers of the American English even use the word ‘naught’ synonymously in the place of zero, hence, they do say “There’s a naught point five percent (0.5%) chance of rainfall today”. In a similar vein, in British English the word ‘nil’ is used synonymously to replace zero, hence, some of its native speakers do say “Our team defeated theirs two goals to nil”.

So, the counter-correction position or submission is to a very great extent factual in that it represents the language use that is idiosyncratic of the majority of the native speakers of English as far as the pronunciation of the zero in the mobile number dictation is concerned. However, the intensive or extensive linguistic exploration done has not confirmed in any way that the pronunciation of zero as /ˈzɪərəʊ/ that is characteristic of the language use of the minority of the native speakers of English is incorrect. It is not unlikely that the agelong decision of the majority to be pronouncing the number or figure ‘zero’ as the alphabetical letter ‘o’ is simply because it is much easier or convenient to realise or pronounce the monosyllabic vowel phoneme ‘o’ /əʊ / compared to the bi-syllabic /ˈzɪərəʊ/ ceteris paribus.

Samson Oluga

Department of Mass Communication

Faculty of Management of and Social Sciences

Email: samoluga@yahoo.com