Some Concepts and Consequences of the Theory of Government and BindingNoam Chomsky, more than any other researcher, has radically restructured the study of human language over the past several decades. While the study of government and binding is an outgrowth of Chomsky's earlier work in transformational grammar, it represents a significant shift in focus and a new direction of investigation into the fundamentals of linguistic theory.This monograph consolidates and extends this new approach. It serves as a concise introduction to government-binding theory, applies it to several new domains of empirical data, and proposes some revisions to the principles of the theory that lead to greater unification, descriptive scope, and explanatory depth.Earlier work in the theory of grammar was concerned primarily with rule systems. The accent in government-binding theory, however, is on systems of principles of universal grammar. In the course of this book, Chomsky proposes and evaluates various general principles that limit and constrain the types of rules that are possible, and the ways they interact and function. In particular, he proposes that rule systems are in fact highly restricted in variety: only a finite number of grammars are attainable in principle, and these fall into a limited set of types. Another consequence of this shift in focus is the change of emphasis from derivations to representations. The major topic in the study of syntactic representations is the analysis of empty categories, which is a central theme of the book. After his introductory comments and a chapter on the variety of rule system, Chomsky takes up, in turn, the general properties of empty categories, the functional determination of empty categories, parasitic gaps, and binding theory and the typology of empty categories. The book is the sixth in the series Linguistic Inquiry Monographs, edited by Samuel Jay Keyser. |
Contents
Some Concepts and Consequences Series Foreword | 3 |
General Properties of Empty | 17 |
The Functional Determination | 34 |
Binding Theory and | 78 |
Notes | 91 |
References | 107 |
Common terms and phrases
0-Criterion A-binding A-position antecedent Aoun appear argument assume assumption base-generated Bijection Principle Bill binding theory bound c-command Case-marking Chomsky clitic coindexed complementary distribution complex consider determined discussion e-marking earlier Engdahl examples excluded Extended Projection Principle fact Filter follows GB theory governing category head Heavy NP Shift independent 0-role indexed at S-structure INFL interpretation involved John Kayne Lasnik lexical license a parasitic locally A-bound maximal projection missing subject movement movement-to-COMP note 11 notion NP-trace option overt anaphors parasitic gap construction particular grammar phonological phrase structure phrase structure grammar possible principles of UG pro-drop languages pro-drop parameter pronominal anaphor properly governed properties of parasitic pure pronominal question R-expression reason relation relative clause relevant requirement resumptive pronoun strategy Richard Kayne Rizzi rule Move Sportiche status Subjacency subject position Suppose syntax Taraldsen tion trace ungoverned vacuous operators variable verb violation weak crossover Wh-Movement wh-phrase X-bar theory