1Episode 4a. Binding Theory, NPIs, c-command, ditransitives, and little v4.3-4.4CAS LX 522Syntax IBinding Theory Binding Theory consists of threePrinciples that govern the alloweddistribution of NPs. Pronouns: he, her, it, she, … Anaphors: himself, herself, itself, … R-expressions: John, the student, …R-expressions and anaphors R-expressions are NPs like Pat, or theprofessor, or an unlucky farmer, which gettheir meaning by referring to something inthe world. Most NPs are like this. An anaphor does not get its meaning fromsomething in the world—it depends onsomething else in the sentence. John saw himself in the mirror. Mary bought herself a sandwich.Pronouns A pronoun is similar to an anaphor inthat it doesn’t refer to something in theworld but gets its reference fromsomewhere else. John told Mary that he likes pizza. Mary wondered if she agreed. …but it doesn’t need to be somethingin the sentence. Mary concluded that he was crazy.The problem There are very specific configurations in whichpronouns, anaphors, and R-expressions can/must beused. Even though both he and himself could refer toJohn below, you can’t just choose freely betweenthem. John saw himself. *John saw him. John thinks that Mary likes him. *John thinks that Mary likes himself. John thinks that he is a genius. *John thinks that himself is a genius. The question Binding Theory strives to answer is: Whendo you use anaphors, pronouns, and R-expressions?Indices and antecedents Anaphors and pronouns are referentiallydependent; they can (or must) be co-referential with another NP in thesentence. The way we indicate that two NPs are co-referential is by means of an index,usually a subscripted letter. Two NPs thatshare the same index (that arecoindexed) also share the same referent. Johni saw himselfi in the mirror.2Indices and antecedents Johni saw himselfi in the mirror. An index functions as a “pointer” into ourmental model of the world. John here is a name that “points” to our mental representationof some guy, John, which we notate by giving the pointingrelation a label (“i”). himself here shares the same pointing relation, it “points” to thesame guy John that John does. So, any two NPs that share an index (pointingrelation) necessarily refer to the same thing.Indices and antecedents Johni saw himselfi in the mirror. The NP from which an anaphor orpronoun draws its reference is calledthe antecedent. John is the antecedent for himself.John and himself are co-referential.Constraints on co-reference Johni saw himselfi. *Himselfi saw Johni. *Johni’s mother saw himselfi. It is impossible to assign the samereferent to John and himself in thesecond and third sentences. What isdifferent between the good and badsentences?John’s mother John’s mother is an NP. [John’s mother]i saw herselfi. She saw John. But it’s an NP that is made up of smallerpieces (John’s and mother). So what is the internal structure of the NPJohn’s mother?[NP John’s mother] Remember that pronouns come in threedistinguishable forms (in English): I, he, she nominative Me, him, her accusative My, his, her genitive The genitive case forms seem to have prettymuch the same kind of “possessive”meaning that John’s does. So, let’s suppose that John’s is the genitivecase form of John.[NP John’s mother] Another point about John’s mother is that itseems that the head should be mother. John’s sort of modifies mother. Sort of like an adjective does… sort of like anadverb does for a verb… Let’s suppose (for now! In chapter 7 we’llrevise this) that John’s is just adjoined to theNP mother. (Hard to draw clearly)NPmotherJohn’sNPiNP3Binding What is the difference between therelationship between John and himselfin the first case and in the second case?seehimselfNPNPiVJohnsaw himselfNPiVPNPiVV′motherJohn’sNPi*VPV′NPBinding We think of the position that John is in in thefirst tree as being a position from which it“commands” the rest of the tree. It ishierarchically superior in a particular way. Really, “non-inferior”seehimselfNPNPiVJohnsaw himselfNPiVPNPiVV′motherJohn’sNPi*VPV′NPTree relations A node X c-commands itssisters and the nodesdominated by its sisters.AB CD EBinding So, again what is the difference between therelationship between John and himself in thefirst case and in the second case?seehimselfNPNPiVJohnsaw himselfNPiVPNPiVV′motherJohn’sNPi*VPV′NPBinding So, again what is the difference between therelationship between John and himself in thefirst case and in the second case?seehimselfNPNPiVJohnsaw himselfNPiVPNPiVV′motherJohn’sNPi*VPV′NPBinding In the first case, the NP John c-commands the NP himself. But not inthe second case.seehimselfNPNPiVJohnsaw himselfNPiVPNPiVV′motherJohn’sNPi*VPV′NP4Binding When one NP c-commands and iscoindexed with another NP, the first issaid to bind the other.seehimselfNPNPiVJohnsaw himselfNPiVPNPiVV′motherJohn’sNPi*VPV′NPBinding Definition: A binds B iff A c-commands B A is coindexed with B “if and only if”seehimselfNPNPiVJohnsaw himselfNPiVPNPiVV′motherJohn’sNPi*VPV′NPBinding Principle A of the Binding Theory (preliminary):An anaphor must be bound. A is for anaphor? That’s good enough for me…seehimselfNPNPiVJohnsaw himselfNPiVPNPiVV′motherJohn’sNPi*VPV′NPPrinciple A This also explains why the followingsentences 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 iscoindexed with himself and herself. Theanaphors are not bound, which violatesPrinciple A.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-commandsand is coindexed with (=binds) himself,satisfying our preliminary version of PrincipleA—but the sentences are ungrammatical. John didn’t say that anyone likes pizza. John didn’t say that Mary called anyone.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 inevery case. What is
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