Binding Theory

1. Binding Theory Meeting 8

2. The meaning of a word can be known by the context and discourse around it. When you hear or write “Felicia wrote a fine paper on Zapotec” you should: • assume that you know who Felicia is • Be aware that there is somebody called Felicia in this context • Be informed that Felicia wrote some paper about Zapotec, though you may not have known that she did • Presuppose that there is a paper in the real world which in this context is the meaning of the phrase a fine paper on Zapotec

3. Thus, … • The phrase a fine paper on Zapotec and Felicia get their meaning by referring to objects in the world either real or imaginary. • In Syntax,it is called a referring expression (R-expression) • It is an NP that gets its meaning by referring to an entity in the world

4. However, … • Not all are in the same case. • Look at the sentence: Heidi bopped herself on the head with a zucchini Anaphor: an NP that obligatory gets its meaning from another NP in the sentence R-Expression anaphor

5. Anaphor

6. What about pronouns? • Look at the sentence Art said that he played footbal. In this case, he does not always refer to Art (Michael, Tom, Sari, or else) • Pronoun: an NP that may (but need not) get its meaning from another word in the sentence R-Expression Pronoun

7. Pronouns

8. In Syntax • These different semantic types of NPs can only appear in certain syntactic positions that are defined by using the structural relations. • *Herself bopped Heidi on the head with a zucchini • Can you give examples?

9. Binding Theory • The theory of Syntactic restrictions on where these different NP types can appear in a sentence

10. CoINDEX and ANTECEDENT • Look at the sentence Heidi bopped herself on the head with a Zucchini Antecedent: an NP that gives its meaning to another NP But, how can we identify that two NPs refer to the same entity? Antecedent anaphor

11. Index • If the NPs refer to the same entity, they get the same letter, if they refer to different entities they get different index • Usually it starts with the letter i and continues down with the alphabet. • Look at the example: • [Colin ]i gave [Andrea]j [a basketball]k • [Art]i said that [he]j played [basketball]k in [the dark]l • [Art]i said that [he]i played [basketball]j in [the dark]k

12. [Art]i said that [he]i played [basketball]j in [the dark]k Coindex = corefer (Art and he are coindexed = Art corefers he) Coindexed

13. Binding Look at the examples: a.Heidii bopped herselfi on the head with a Zucchini b. [Heidii’s mother]j bopped herselfj on the head with a Zucchini c. *[Heidii’s mother]j bopped herselfi on the head with a Zucchini Syntactician sometimes abreviate sentences b & c using slash (/) for grammatical and asterisk (*) for ungrammatical indexing, as the following; [Heidii’s mother]j bopped herselfj/*i on the head with a Zucchini

14. A TP VP NPi PP PP V NPi N N Heidi bopped P NP P NP herself on with D N D N C-command the head a zucchini

15. B *TP VP NP PP PP V NPi NPi mother N Heidi’s bopped P NP P NP herself on with D N D N the head a zucchini Not c-command

16. From the description above binding is then defined as: “A binds B if and only if A c-command B and A and are B are coindexed” Binding is a coindexation that happens when one of the two NPs c-command the other. It requires coindexation and c-command.

17. Thus • There are three principles about binding: Binding Principle A: an anaphor must be bound Bound means coindexed with an NP that c-commands it (Look at the previous tree diagram B ). Binding involves the binder (antecedent) which c-commands the binder (anaphor or pronoun), not the reverse.

18. Locality Constraint • The anaphor needs to find its antecedent in the same clause. Look at the example: *Heidi said that herself discoed with Art. embedded clause (cf. Heidi said that she discoed with Art.) Heidi c-commands herself and coindexed with it, and it seems grammatical using Principle A. However, it is ungrammatical since the anaphor is in the embedded clause. The anapho’s antecedent must be near or local in some way. The space (clause) in which anaphor must find its antecedent is called a binding domain

19. The distribution of Pronouns • Anaphors are not the only NP type with restrictions on their syntactic position. Pronouns can also be restricted in where they appear: • E.g Heidii bopped herj on the head with the zucchini, but not • Heidii bopped heri on the head with the zucchini • The pronouns her in the sentences may not be bound. (They may not be coindexed by a c-commanding NP). Her refers to someone other than Heidi.

20. Contrast with these: • Heidii said that shei discoed with Art • Heidii said that shek discoed with Art What do you think? This leads to the Binding Principle B: A pronoun must be free in its binding domain

21. The Distribution of R-Expression • R-expressions don,t seem to allow any instances of binding at all, not within the binding domain and not outside it either. e.g. - Heidii kissed Miriamj. - Arti kissed Geoffj. In none of these sentences can the second NP (all R-expressions) can be bound by a c-commanding word. They don’t get their meaning from another word in the sentence (via binding), but from outside the sentence (from the context). This formulate Binding Principle C, which states that: An R-Expression must be free.