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Binding Theory 23 Binding Theory 23 Binbinka See: Wambaya. Binding Theory A Asudeh, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada Binding Conditions M Dalrymple, Oxford University, Oxford, UK Binding theory is typically stated in terms of con- ß 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. ditions that refer to three key aspects: the class of nominal involved, the syntactic region that constitu- What Is Binding? tes the domain of binding, and a structural condition on the syntactic relation between a nominal and its Binding theory concerns syntactic restrictions on potential binder. nominal reference. It particularly focuses on the pos- sible coreference relationships between a pronoun Classes of Nominals and its antecedent (the nominal that a nondeictic pronoun depends on for its reference). For instance, For the purposes of binding theory, nominals are tra- in (1a) himself must refer to the same individual as he. ditionally partitioned into several classes, as shown In contrast, in (1b) her cannot refer to the same indi- here: vidual as she. Instead, the sentence must mean that (4) some person voted for some other person. (1a) He voted for himself. (1b) She voted for her. Pronouns like himself or ourselves, which must corefer with some other noun phrase in the sentence, The first major division is between pronouns and are called reflexive pronouns or reflexives. Pronouns nonpronouns. Pronouns are then further subdivided like she, her, and us are called nonreflexive pronouns. into reflexives and reciprocals, which are collectively Two nominal expressions that corefer, or refer to the referred to as ‘anaphors,’ and nonreflexive pronouns, same individual or individuals, are annotated by iden- often simply called ‘pronominals’ or ‘pronouns’ (in tical subscripts; if two nominals do not corefer, they opposition to anaphors). We will here refer to non- are annotated with different subscripts: reflexive pronouns as ‘pronominals,’ reserving the (2a) Hei voted for himselfi. term ‘pronoun’ for the class that includes anaphors (2b) Shei voted for herj. and other pronouns. This yields three classes for the purposes of binding theory: anaphors, pronominals, In an example like He voted for himself , we say i i and nonpronouns. Each class is governed by its own that the reflexive pronoun himself is bound by he, and binding condition. that he is the binder of himself. Reciprocals like each other and one another must Binding Domains also be bound by a local antecedent and are grouped in binding-theoretic terms with reflexives: Traditional definitions of binding domains distinguish local from nonlocal domains. Consider the following (3a) Theyi voted for each otheri. sentence: (3b) * Ii voted for each otherj. (5) Bill said that [Gonzo voted for himself ] Reflexives and reciprocals are together called i j *i,j anaphors. The reflexive himself must be bound in its local do- Some major works on binding are Faltz (1977), main, here the subordinate clause Gonzo voted for Wasow (1979), Chomsky (1981, 1986), Reinhart himself. The only appropriate binder in this domain (1983), Dalrymple (1993), Reinhart and Reuland is Gonzo. The reflexive cannot be bound by the (1993), and Pollard and Sag (1994). Huang (2000) higher subject Bill, which is outside the reflexive’s contains a rich cross-linguistic survey of pronominal local domain. This is indicated by placing the marker systems. Bu¨ ring (2004) provides a recent comprehen- of ungrammaticality (*) beside the illicit index. sive overview of the syntax and semantics of binding A pronominal in the same position must not be and presents a new synthesis. bound in its local domain: 24 Binding Theory (6) Billi said that [Gonzoj voted for himi,*j] Variation in Structural Relation The local domain for the pronominal is also the sub- All versions of binding theory incorporate some notion ordinate clause, and it cannot be bound in this do- of structural domination or superiority as a component main. It can, however, be bound by the matrix of the binding relation. We referred to this relation subject, which lies outside the local domain. above as command. One commonly assumed version of command is the tree-configurational relation of Command c-command (Reinhart, 1983): Besides a syntactic domain condition, binding in- (9a) A c-commands B if and only if A does not volves the requirement that the binding nominal be dominate B and the first branching node in a structurally dominant position. This required dominating A also dominates B. relation between a pronoun and its binder is called (9b) ‘command’ and is defined in different ways in differ- ent theories. The structural condition on binding means that certain elements cannot be binders, even if they fall within the correct syntactic domain: In the tree in (9b), the first branching node dom- (7) Gonzoi’s friendj voted for himself*i,j. inating A, labeled X, also dominates B, and A does The entire subject Gonzo’s friend can bind the reflex- not dominate B. Therefore, A c-commands B. B does ive, but the possessor Gonzo cannot, because the not c-command A, because the first branching node possessor does not command the reflexive. dominating B is Y, and Y does not dominate A. We have thus far seen that anaphors must be bound Other tree-based definitions of command have within some local domain and that pronominals been proposed; in them, command is relativized to cannot be bound within some local domain. Nonpro- nodes other than the first branching node. For exam- nouns cannot be bound in any domain, whether local ple, the similar relation of m-command makes refer- or nonlocal: ence to the first maximal projection dominating A. Thus, in diagram (9b), A m-commands B if X is (8a) * Hei voted for Billi. a maximal projection (see X-Bar Theory). Notice also (8b) * He said that Gonzo voted for Bill . i i that if X is a maximal projection and Y is not a (8c) When he voted for George, Gonzo was drunk. i i maximal projection, then B also m-commands In (8a) and (8b), the pronoun is in the proper struc- A because the first maximal projection dominating tural relation to command the name. Since this results B dominates A and B does not dominate A. Some in the nonpronoun being bound, the sentences are literature on binding continues to use the term ungrammatical on the indexation indicated. In (8c), ‘c-command’ but defines it as m-command. by contrast, the pronoun is not in the proper structur- Other theories define a command relation on lin- al relation to command the name, because the pro- guistic structures other than trees. In lexical functional noun is too deeply embedded. Although the pronoun grammar (LFG), command is defined on f(unctional)- and the name corefer, as indicated by the coindexa- structures, which represent predicates and their tion, there is no binding relation, and the sentence is adjuncts and subcategorized grammatical functions. grammatical. The command relation relevant for binding in LFG is Bringing these ideas together, a typical statement of called ‘f-command’ and is defined as follows: binding conditions is as follows (based on Chomsky, 1981): (10a) An f-structure A f-commands an f-structure B if and only if A does not contain B and every A. An anaphor (reflexive or reciprocal) must be f-structure that contains A also contains B. bound in its local domain. (10b) B. A pronominal (nonreflexive pronoun) must not be bound in its local domain. C. A nonpronoun must not be bound. Following Chomsky (1981), these binding principles In the f-structure in (10b), the f-structure labeled A are often referred to as Principle A, the condition f-commands B: A does not contain B, and the on anaphors; Principle B, the condition on pronom- f-structure X that contains A also contains B. B does inals; and Principle C, the condition on nonpronouns. not f-command A because there is an f-structure Principles A, B, and C are also called Conditions A, Y that contains B but not A. Notice that in (10), B, and C. A and Y f-command each other, just as in a tree there Binding Theory 25 is mutual c-command between sisters. Since A can be on a thematic hierarchy, such as Agent > Goal > the subject and Y the object, we need an additional Theme (Jackendoff, 1972; Wilkins, 1988). principle to ensure that the subject binds the object but not vice versa. Otherwise a perfectly grammatical Variation in Binding Domain sentence like (11) would be a Principle B violation because the object reflexive would bind the subject Some theories assume that the local domain for the pronominal. anaphoric and pronominal binding conditions (Prin- ciples A and B) is the same: anaphors are required (11) Hei injured himselfi. to be bound in exactly the same domains in which pronouns are required not to be bound. For example, Cases of mutual f-command like the above occur not Chomsky (1981) proposed that the local binding just between subjects and objects but among all coar- domain for both anaphors and pronominals is the guments of a given predicate. Such cases are handled governing category, where a governing category for by an independently motivated relational hierarchy an element is the minimal domain containing a of grammatical functions based on the notion of subject and the head that selects the element. This obliqueness, in which the subject outranks the object, predicts that anaphors and pronominals are in com- which in turn outranks the other arguments. plementary distribution, a prediction that seems to In head-driven phrase structure grammar (HPSG), be borne out by examples like the following: grammatical functions are encoded on SUBCAT (subcat- egorization) lists, which are ordered according to the (13a) Gonzoi saw himselfi/*himi.
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