Name: Zahid Khan

Roll No: E-17-29

Department: BS English

Semester: 6th

Assignment No: 07

Assignment title: “Terms and Principles of Binding

Theory”
Submitted To: “Sir Zaka”
 “Binding Theory”

Binding theory describes the conditions on structural relations between nouns. In

linguistics, binding is the distribution of anaphoric elements (pronouns and other pro-forms). ...
The goal of binding theory is to identify the syntactic relationship that can or must hold
between a given pronoun or noun and its antecedent (or postcedent),

For Example;

 John said he would help.

 He said John would help. 

The second sentence is not possible if he is intended to mean John.

The idea that there should be a specialized, coherent theory dealing with this sort of phenomena
originated in work in transformational grammar in the 1970s. This work culminated
in government and binding theory in the 1980s. The binding theory that became established at
that time is still considered a reference point, though its validity is no longer accepted.

Many theories of syntax now have a sub-theory that addresses binding phenomena. These
phenomena exist in all languages, although the behavior of binding can vary in interesting and
nuanced ways across languages, even across languages that are closely related.

Binding theory concerned with three types of nouns:

i. R-expressions (Proper names, Common nouns)

ii. Pronouns (he, she, it, his, one, them, him etc.)

iii. Anaphors (e.g. himself, herself, themselves)

These NPs are semantically distinct, but they also have different syntactic distributions.

i. R-expressions:

A referring expression is any expression used in an utterance to refer to something or

someone or a clearly delimited collection of things or people, which is used with a
particular referent in mind.
 The same expression can be a referring expression or not depending on the context. The
condition which makes an expression can be mentioned as a referring expression when
the speaker and the hearer have the same perception of what is being talked about.

For Example:

 Fred hit me.

The speaker has a particular person in mind.

Fred is a referring person.

 There is no Fred at this address.

The speaker would not have particular person in mind.

Fred is not a referring person.

In certain theories of syntax, an R-expression (or Referring expression) is a category in

the three-way classification of noun phrases in binding theory, the other two
being anaphors and pronominals. According to principle C of binding theory, R-
expressions must be free. R-expressions include names (e.g. Mary, John) and definite
DPs (e.g. the cat)

ii. Anaphor:

Anaphor is an NP that obligatorily gets its meaning from another NP in the sentence. In
rhetoric, an anaphora is a rhetorical device that consists of repeating a sequence of words
at the beginnings of neighboring clauses, thereby lending them emphasis. In contrast, an
apostrophe (or epiphora) is repeating words at the clauses' ends. The combination of
anaphora and apostrophe results in symploce.

In linguistics, anaphora (/ ə ˈ n æ f ər ə /) is the use of an expression whose interpretation

depends upon another expression in context (its antecedent or postcedent). In a narrower
sense, anaphora is the use of an expression that depends specifically upon an antecedent
expression and thus is contrasted with cataphora, which is the use of an expression that
depends upon a postcedent expression.
 In English grammar, anaphora is the use of a pronoun or other linguistic unit to
refer back to another word or phrase. Adjective: anaphoric, also called anaphoric
reference or backwards anaphora.
The word that gets its meaning from a preceding word or phrase is called an anaphor.
The preceding word or phrase is called the antecedent, referent, or head.
Some linguists use anaphora as a generic term for both forward and backward reference.
The term forward(s) anaphora is equivalent to cataphora. Anaphora and cataphora
are the two main types of endophora--that is, reference to an item within the text itself.
For example:

 "If a man has talent and can't use it, he's failed."(Thomas Wolfe)

 "If a man has talent and can't use it, he's failed."(Thomas Wolfe)
 Heidi bopped herself on the head with a zucchini.
 Examples; myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, oneself, ourselves, yourselves,
themselves, each other.

iii. Pronoun:

Pronoun is an NP that may (but need not) get its meaning from another word in the
sentence. It can also get its meaning from a noun previously mentioned in the discourse, or
by context.
In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun (abbreviated PRO) is a word that substitutes
for a noun or noun phrase. It is a particular case of a pro-form. Pronouns have traditionally
been regarded as one of the parts of speech, but some modern theorists would not consider
them to form a single class, in view of the variety of functions they perform cross-
linguistically.

For example:
 Art said that he played basketball.
 Art said that Art played basketball.
 Art said that David played basketball.
 I, me, you, he, him, she, her, it, one, we, us, they, them.
 His, her, our, my, its, your, their.(Category D but count as pronoun)
 iv. Antecedent:
Antecedent is an NP that gives its meaning to a pronoun or anaphor.
Heidi bopped herself on the head with a zucchini.
Antecedent Anaphor
Indexing:
Indexing is the means of representing the meaning of an NP, Each index (plural: indices)
represents a different reference.
a) [Colin]i gave [Andrea]j [a basketball]k
b) [Art]i said that [he]j played [basketball]k in [the dark]l
c) [Art]i said that [he]i played [basketball]k in [the dark]l
d) [Heidi]i bopped [herself]i on [the head]j with [a zucchini]k
Start at the left and assign each NP an index starting with i and working down the alphabet.
Binding:
This fact is captured by binding.
Binds:
 A binds B if and only
 if A c-commands B AND
 A and B are co-indexed.
Note: Binding is not the same as co- indexing!!! (Co-indexing has same index; binding requires
a c–command relationship between the co- indexed elements.) Binding is a SPECIAL kind of c-
command. It is c-command with co-indexing.

Binding Domain:

Binding domain is, the clause containing the anaphor, this definition is overly simplistic.

TP

DP T

John T VP
 Past DP V’

Loves D

Himself

Principles of Binding Theory:

There are three main principles of binding theory.

1) Binding principle A.

2) Binding principle B.

3) Binding principle C.

1) Binding Principle A:

An anaphor must be bound in its binding domain.

e.g. Heidi danced with herself.

TP

NPi VP

N V PP

Heidi danced P NPi

with N

herself

Coindexed? Yes

C-command? Yes ∴Bound

Bound in domain? Yes

2) Binding Principle B:

Pronouns must be free in their binding domain or the same clauses as their antecedents.

“Ali hit him”.

TP

NP VP

Ali V NP

hit him

In this diagram we noticed that they are not connected with the same indexation, Ali, him

and therefore the pronoun him is not referred to someone else not to Ali.

3) Binding Principle C:

An R- Expression must be free.

“Zahid said to John that he was hungry”.

TP

NP VP

Zahid V NP CP

Said to John C TP

that NP VP

he V Adj P

was hungry
In this diagram Zahid does not need to be bound to anything in order to have a meaning,

although He is bound to it and same applied to John. It has a meaning in real world

outside of the sentence. And he needs to be bound to its antecedent Zahid, in order to

have a meaning

The End