Binding

theory
Revision Quiz

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Binding Theory

⋆ Binding Theory consists of three Principles that govern the

allowed distribution of NPs.

⋆ Pronouns: he, her, it, she, …

⋆ Anaphors: himself, herself, itself, …
⋆ R-expressions: John, the student, …

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 R-expressions and anaphors

⋆ R-expressions are NPs like Pat, or the professor, or an unlucky farmer, which
get their meaning by referring (directly) to something in the (extralinguistic)
world. Most NPs are like this.

⋆ An anaphor does not get its meaning from something in the world – it
depends on something else in the sentence.
John saw himself in the mirror.
Mary bought herself a sandwich.

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 Pronouns

⋆ A pronoun is similar to an anaphor in that it doesn’t refer to something in the

world but gets its reference from somewhere else.
John told Mary that he likes pizza.
Mary wondered if she agreed.

…but it doesn’t need to be something in the sentence.

Mary concluded that he was crazy.

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 The problem

⋆ There are very specific configurations in which pronouns, anaphors,

and R-expressions can/must be used. Even though both he and
himself could refer to John below, you can’t just choose freely
between them.
John saw himself / *him.
John thinks that Mary likes him / *himself.
John thinks that he / *himself is a genius.

⋆ The question Binding Theory strives to answer is: When do you use
anaphors, pronouns and R-expressions?

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 Indices and antecedents

⋆ Anaphors and pronouns are referentially dependent; they can (or must) be co-
referential with another NP in the sentence.

⋆ The way we indicate that two NPs are co-referential is by means of an index,
usually a subscripted letter. Two NPs that share the same index (that are
coindexed) also share the same referent.
Johni saw himselfi in the mirror.

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 Indices and antecedents

Johni saw himselfi in the mirror.

⋆ An index functions as a “pointer” into our mental model of the world.

⋆ John here is a name that “points” to our mental representation of some
guy, John, which we notate by giving the pointing relation a label (“i”).
⋆ himself here shares the same pointing relation, it “points” to the same
guy John that John does.
⋆ So, any two NPs that share an index (pointing relation) necessarily
refer to the same thing.

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 Indices and antecedents

Johni saw himselfi in the mirror.

⋆ The NP from which an anaphor or pronoun draws its reference is called the
antecedent.

⋆ John is the antecedent for himself. John and himself are co-referential.

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 Constraints on coreference

Johni saw himselfi.

*Himselfi saw Johni.
*Johni’s mother saw himselfi.

⋆ It is impossible to assign the same referent to John

and himself in the second and third sentences. What
is different between the good and bad sentences?
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 John’s mother

⋆ John’s mother is an NP.

[John’s mother]i saw herselfi.
Shei saw herselfi.

⋆ But it’s an NP that is made up of smaller pieces (John’s and

mother).

⋆ So what is the internal structure of the NP John’s mother?

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 John’s mother

⋆ Remember that pronouns come in three

distinguishable forms (in English):
I, he, she nominative
Me, him, her accusative
My, his, her genitive
⋆ The genitive case forms seem to have pretty much the
same kind of “possessive” meaning that John’s does.
⋆ So, let’s suppose that John’s is the genitive case form
of John.

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 PossP

https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=63Zbn_w8Lm4
 Binding

⋆ What is the difference in the relationship

between John and himself in the first case
and in the second case?
⋆ We think of the position that John is in in
the first tree as being a position from which
it “commands” the rest of the tree. It is
hierarchically superior in a particular way.
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 Binding

⋆ A node X c-commands its sister and the

nodes dominated by its sister.
⋆ In the first case, the NP John c-commands
the NP himself. But not in the second case.
⋆ When one NP c-commands and is coindexed
with another NP, the first is said to bind the
other.
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 Binding

“if and only if”

⋆ Definition: A binds B iff
⋆ A c-commands B
⋆ A is coindexed with B

⋆ Principle A of the Binding Theory

(preliminary):
An anaphor must be bound.

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 Principle A

⋆ This also explains why the following sentences are ungrammatical:

*Himselfi saw Johni in the mirror.
*Herselfi likes Maryi’s father.
*Himselfi likes Mary’s fatheri.

⋆ There is nothing that c-commands and is coindexed with himself

and herself. The anaphors are not bound, which violates Principle
A.
⋆.

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 Binding domains

⋆ But this is not the end of the story. Consider

*Johni said that himselfi likes pizza.
*Johni said that Mary called himselfi.

⋆ In these sentences the NP John c-commands and is coindexed

with (=binds) himself, satisfying our preliminary version of
Principle A – but the sentences are ungrammatical.
John didn’t say that anyone likes pizza.
John didn’t say that Mary called anyone.

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 Binding domains

Johni saw himselfi in the mirror.

Johni gave a book to himselfi.
*Johni said that himselfi is a genius.
*Johni said that Mary dislikes himselfi.

⋆ What is wrong? John binds himself in every case. What is

different?
⋆ In the ungrammatical cases, himself is in an embedded
clause.
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 Binding domains

⋆ It seems that not only does an anaphor need to be

bound, it needs to be bound nearby (or locally).

⋆ Principle A (revised):
An anaphor must be bound in its binding domain.

Binding Domain (preliminary):

The binding domain of an anaphor is the smallest
clause containing it.
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 Pronouns

*Johni saw himi in the mirror.

Johni said that hei is a genius.
Johni said that Mary dislikes himi.
Johni saw himj in the mirror.

⋆ How does the distribution of pronouns differ from

the distribution of anaphors?
⋆ It looks like it is just the opposite.
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 Principle B

⋆ Principle B
A pronoun must be free in its binding domain.

Free
Not bound

*Johni saw himi.

Johni’s mother saw himi.
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 Principle C

⋆ We now know where pronouns and anaphors are

allowed. Consider the following.

*Stuarti saw himi in the mirror.

Stuarti’s mother saw himi in the mirror.

*Hei saw Stuarti in the mirror.

Hisi mother saw Stuarti in the mirror.
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 Principle C

⋆ What’s going wrong with these sentences? The pronouns are unbound
as needed for Principle B. What are the binding relations here?

*Hei likes Johni.

*Shei said that Maryi fears clowns.
Hisi mother likes Johni.
Hisi mother said that Johni fears clowns.

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 Principle C

⋆ Binding is a means of assigning reference.

⋆ R-expressions have intrinsic reference; they can’t be assigned
their reference from somewhere else.
⋆ R-expressions can’t be bound, at all.

⋆ Principle C
An R-expression must be free.
.
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 Binding Theory

⋆ Principle A. An anaphor must be bound in its binding

domain.
⋆ Principle B. A pronoun must be free in its binding domain.
⋆ Principle C. An R-expression must be free.

⋆ The binding domain for an anaphor is the smallest clause

that contains it.
⋆ Bound: coindexed with a c-commanding antecedent (Free:
not bound).
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GAME TIME!

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Intro questions

⋆ What is syntax?
⋆ What does UG stand for?
⋆ How many arguments for the UG can you think of?

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When a child starts taking foreign language lessons at the
beginning of their primary school we are talking about:

♫ Language acquisition
♫ Language learning?

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How is it possible that children around the world
acquire different languages in very similar ways?
Santa Claus

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The argument structure of a verb refers to:

♫ The total number of constituents in a clause

♫ The number of its semantic arguments
♫ The number of syntactic arguments it can have in
a clause

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English language is

♫ a right-headed phrase language

♫ a left-headed phrase language
♫ an either-right-or-left-headed phrase language

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Name the positions available in X’-bar theory!

What is EPP?

What does Burzio’s generalization say?

What is UTAH?

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 Say whether the following statements are true/false:

♫ Specifier is the highest position in a phrase.

♫ The order of functional projections is T > (Neg) > (Perf) > (Prog) > v > V
♫ Lexical verbs move to T in English.
♫ Affix hopping is an example of phrasal movement.
♫ Nominative is licensed by finite T.

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 Match the examples with the principles that were violated:

EPP
*Johni saw himi in the mirror. Principle B of the Binding
*He not likes chocolate. Theory
*Hei burnt Johni. Principle C of the Binding
*Fell my mother. Theory
Head Movement Constraint

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Draw the following tree: The
presents should have been
prepared before Chrismas!

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 Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year!

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