CAS LX 522Syntax IWeek 4a.Binding theory, NPIs, c-command(4.3)Mary saw him•A pronoun like him refers to somebody in (our mental model of) the world.•A pronoun refers to somebody or something that’s been part of the conversation, or that you are pointing at.•When you hear a pronoun and want to interpret it, you have to resolve its reference.John arrived.Mary saw him.•Here, him is likely to refer to John.•Though we could be pointing at Bill, in which case him refers to Bill.•The person who hears this has to figure it out.•The person who says this knows who they meant.•And had the grammar that generated the sentence.Indices•To describe what the speaker intended (that is, which sentence the speaker actually used), we use an index on each referent.1) Johni arrived. Maryj saw himi.2) Johni arrived. Maryj saw himk.•The index represents what you are “pointing at” (perhaps just mentally).•Two noun phrases that share an index necessarily share the same reference. They are coreferential.Seeing him in the mirror•Regard: Ikei, Jimj, Kristink.1) There’s Ikei. Kristink saw himj in the mirror.2) There’s Jimj. Kristink saw himj in the mirror.3) There’s Ikei. Jimj saw himi in the mirror.4) There’s Jimj. *Jimj saw himj in the mirror.•What’s wrong with that last one?Seeing himself in the mirror•Right, ok. Jimj saw himselfj in the mirror.•For some reason, when Jim is the subject and him is an object, him can’t refer to Jim. Furthermore:1) Jimj’s fatherk saw himi/j/*k in the mirror.2) Jimj’s fatherk saw himselfi/*j/*k in the mirror.3) Jimj’s fatherk said that Marym saw himi/j/k in the mirror.4) Marym introduced Jimj to himi/*j.5) Marym introduced Jimj’s fatherk to himi/j/*k.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: Pat, the student, ...R-expressions and anaphors•R-expressions are NPs like Pat, or the professor, or an unlucky farmer, which get their meaning by referring to something in the 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.1) John saw himself in the mirror.2) Mary bought herself a sandwich.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.1) John told Mary that he likes pizza.2) Mary wondered if she agreed.•…but it doesn’t need to be something in the sentence.1) Mary concluded that he was crazy.Constraints on coreference1) Johni saw himselfi.2) *Himselfi saw Johni.3) *Johni’s mother saw himselfi.•It is impossible to assign the same referent to John and himself in the (2) and (3). What is different between the good and bad sentences?John’s mother•John’s mother is an NP.1) [John’s mother]i saw herselfi.2) She saw John.•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?[NP 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.[NP John’s mother]•Another point about John’s mother is that it seems that the head should be mother.•John’s sort of modifies mother.•Sort of like an adjective does… sort of like an adverb does for a verb…•Let’s suppose that John’s is just adjoined to the NP mother.•Only for now! To be revised in ch. 7.•This is kind of hard to draw clearly.NPjNPiJohn’sNPjmotherCommand domains•What is the difference between the relationship between John and himself in the first case and in the second case?*VPNPiJohnV!VsawNPihimselfVPNP V!VsawNPihimselfNPiJohn’sNPmotherCommand domains•We think of the position that John occupies 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. (Really, “non-inferior”)*VPNPiJohnV!VsawNPihimselfVPNP V!VsawNPihimselfNPiJohn’sNPmotherTree relations•A node X c-commands its sisters and the nodes dominated by its sisters.•B c-commands C, D, E.•D c-commands E.•E c-commands D.•C c-commands B.•A c-commands nothing.AB CD EC-command domains•So, again, what is the difference between the relationship between John and himself in the first case and in the second case?*VPNPiJohnV!VsawNPihimselfVPNP V!VsawNPihimselfNPiJohn’sNPmotherC-command domains•In the first case, the NP John c-commands the NP himself. But not in the second case.*VPNPiJohnV!VsawNPihimselfVPNP V!VsawNPihimselfNPiJohn’sNPmotherBindingA binds B iff•A c-commands B! ! !•A is coindexed with B!! “if and only if”*VPNPiJohnV!VsawNPihimselfVPNP V!VsawNPihimselfNPiJohn’sNPmotherPrinciple A of the Binding Theory (preliminary)An anaphor must be bound.Principle A*VPNPiJohnV!VsawNPihimselfVPNP V!VsawNPihimselfNPiJohn’sNPmotherA is for anaphor? That’s good enough for me.Principle A•We now know why these are ungrammatical too:1) *Himselfi saw Johni in the mirror.2) *Herselfi likes Maryi’s father.3) *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.Binding domains•But this is not the end of the story; consider1) *Johni said that himselfi likes pizza.2) *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.Binding domains1) Johni saw himselfi in the mirror.2) Johni gave a book to himselfi.3) *Johni said that himselfi is a genius.4) *Johni said that Mary dislikes himselfi.•What is wrong? John binds himself in each case. What is different?•In the ungrammatical cases, himself is in an embedded clause.Binding domains•It seems that not only does an anaphor need to be bound, it needs to be bound nearby (or locally).Principle A of the Binding Theory (revised)An anaphor must be bound in its binding domain.Binding Domain (preliminary)The binding domain of an anaphor is the smallest
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