diff --git a/spacy/__init__.py b/spacy/__init__.py
index 020e01636..478fd80c8 100644
--- a/spacy/__init__.py
+++ b/spacy/__init__.py
@@ -19,6 +19,23 @@ set_lang_class(de.German.lang, de.German)
 set_lang_class(zh.Chinese.lang, zh.Chinese)
 
 
+def blank(name, vocab=None, tokenizer=None, parser=None, tagger=None, entity=None,
+         matcher=None, serializer=None, vectors=None, pipeline=None):
+    target_name, target_version = util.split_data_name(name)
+    cls = get_lang_class(target_name)
+    return cls(
+        path,
+        vectors=vectors,
+        vocab=vocab,
+        tokenizer=tokenizer,
+        tagger=tagger,
+        parser=parser,
+        entity=entity,
+        matcher=matcher,
+        pipeline=pipeline,
+        serializer=serializer)
+
+
 def load(name, vocab=True, tokenizer=True, parser=True, tagger=True, entity=True,
          matcher=True, serializer=True, vectors=True, pipeline=True, via=None):
     if via is None:
diff --git a/spacy/language.py b/spacy/language.py
index a0400e359..8e50e298e 100644
--- a/spacy/language.py
+++ b/spacy/language.py
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ class BaseDefaults(object):
         self.path = path
         self.lang = lang
         self.lex_attr_getters = dict(self.__class__.lex_attr_getters)
-        if (self.path / 'vocab' / 'oov_prob').exists():
+        if self.path and (self.path / 'vocab' / 'oov_prob').exists():
             with (self.path / 'vocab' / 'oov_prob').open() as file_:
                 oov_prob = file_.read().strip()
             self.lex_attr_getters[PROB] = lambda string: oov_prob
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ class BaseDefaults(object):
         self.lex_attr_getters[IS_STOP] = lambda string: string in self.stop_words
 
     def Lemmatizer(self):
-        return Lemmatizer.load(self.path)
+        return Lemmatizer.load(self.path) if self.path else Lemmatizer({}, {}, {})
 
     def Vectors(self):
         return True
@@ -59,9 +59,13 @@ class BaseDefaults(object):
             lemmatizer = self.Lemmatizer()
         if vectors is True:
             vectors = self.Vectors()
-        return Vocab.load(self.path, lex_attr_getters=lex_attr_getters,
-                          tag_map=tag_map, lemmatizer=lemmatizer,
-                          serializer_freqs=serializer_freqs)
+        if self.path:
+            return Vocab.load(self.path, lex_attr_getters=lex_attr_getters,
+                              tag_map=tag_map, lemmatizer=lemmatizer,
+                              serializer_freqs=serializer_freqs)
+        else:
+            return Vocab(lex_attr_getters=lex_attr_getters, tag_map=tag_map,
+                         lemmatizer=lemmatizer, serializer_freqs=serializer_freqs)
 
     def Tokenizer(self, vocab, rules=None, prefix_search=None, suffix_search=None,
                   infix_finditer=None):
@@ -73,27 +77,41 @@ class BaseDefaults(object):
             suffix_search  = util.compile_suffix_regex(self.suffixes).search
         if infix_finditer is None:
             infix_finditer = util.compile_infix_regex(self.infixes).finditer
-        return Tokenizer(vocab, rules=rules,
-                prefix_search=prefix_search, suffix_search=suffix_search,
-                infix_finditer=infix_finditer)
+        if self.path:
+            return Tokenizer.load(self.path, vocab, rules=rules,
+                                  prefix_search=prefix_search,
+                                  suffix_search=suffix_search,
+                                  infix_finditer=infix_finditer)
+        else:
+            return Tokenizer(vocab, rules=rules,
+                    prefix_search=prefix_search, suffix_search=suffix_search,
+                    infix_finditer=infix_finditer)
 
     def Tagger(self, vocab):
-        return Tagger.load(self.path / 'pos', vocab)
+        if self.path:
+            return Tagger.load(self.path / 'pos', vocab)
+        else:
+            return Tagger.blank(vocab, Tagger.default_templates(self.lang))
 
     def Parser(self, vocab):
-        if (self.path / 'deps').exists():
+        if self.path:
             return Parser.load(self.path / 'deps', vocab, ArcEager)
         else:
-            return None
+            return Parser.blank(vocab, ArcEager,
+                Parser.default_templates('%s-parser' % self.lang))
 
     def Entity(self, vocab):
-        if (self.path / 'ner').exists():
+        if self.path and (self.path / 'ner').exists():
             return Parser.load(self.path / 'ner', vocab, BiluoPushDown)
         else:
-            return None
+            return Parser.blank(vocab, BiluoPushdown,
+                Parser.default_templates('%s-entity' % self.lang))
 
     def Matcher(self, vocab):
-        return Matcher.load(self.path, vocab)
+        if self.path:
+            return Matcher.load(self.path, vocab)
+        else:
+            return Matcher(vocab)
 
     def Pipeline(self, nlp):
         return [