BINDING THEORY

Presented By:Jayant Ameta : 07005020Chirag Sethi : 07005022Rachit Gupta : 07d05008

Contents

Motivation Introduction to Binding Theory Types of Noun Phrases Key Concepts Introduction to Binder/Bound NP Introduction to C-commands Conclusions References

Motivation[1]

That it rains bothers (Peter/him/himself) That it rains bothers (Peter/him)

Peter watches (Peter/him/himself) in the mirror

Peter watches (himself) in the mirror

Peter thinks that I hate (Peter/him/himself) Peter thinks that I hate (him)

Binding Theory – I[2]

Describes the conditions on the structural relations between nouns.

Concerned with three types of nouns R – Expressions Pronouns Anaphors

Binding Theory - II

The key insight captured in binding theory is that the (un)availability of co-reference between 2 NP’s depends primarily on 2 factors Morphological shape of the NP’s Structural relationship between the NP’s

Types of Noun Phrases[3]

R-Expressions (full NP’s) These express content and get its meaning by

referring to an entity in the world Eg:- Peter, the Indian Prime Minister, राम

Anaphors (Reflexive and Reciprocals) An NP that obligatorily gets its meaning from

another NP in the sentence. Eg:- myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself,

oneself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves, each other, स्वयं, खुद, एक दूसरे

Types of Noun Phrases

Pronominals (Non-reflexive pronouns) 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

E.g. :- he, she, it, him, her, I, us, we, you, तुम , मैं , etc.

Key Concepts

Indexing NPs are marked by numerical indices NPs are co-referent(i.e., they refer to the

same entity) if and only if they have the same index.

The actual value of indices is not important.

Antecedent NP ‘A’ is the antecedent of NP ‘B’ if and

only if ‘A’ precedes ‘B’. ‘A’ and ‘B’ co-refer.

Examples – No Antecedents

That it rains bothers Peter1. वर्षाा� से राम1 को चि�ंता होती है | That it rains bothers him1. वर्षाा� से उसको1 चि�ंता होती है | *That it rains bothers himself1. *वर्षाा� से स्वयं1 को चि�ंता होती है |

Observations: Anaphors can’t occur since no antecedent is present. Pronominals and r-expressions do not necessarily

require antecedent in same clause.

Examples – Local Antecedents *Peter1 watches Peter1 in the mirror. *राम1 दर्प�ण में राम1 को देखता है | *Peter1 watches him1 in the mirror. *राम1 दर्प�ण में उसको1 देखता है | Peter1 watches himself1 in the mirror. राम1 दर्प�ण में स्वयं1 को देखता है |

Observations: It is reverse than in the previous case. Only anaphors are permitted with local antecedents.

Examples- Non-local Antecedents *Peter2 thinks that I hate Peter2. *राम2 सो�ता है किक मैं राम2 से दे्वर्षा करता हूँ | Peter2 thinks that I hate him2. राम2 सो�ता है किक मैं उससे2 दे्वर्षा करता हूँ | *Peter2 thinks that I hate himself2. *राम2 सो�ता है किक मैं स्वयं2 से दे्वर्षा करता हूँ |

Observations: The indexed NPs are separated by ‘that’ or ‘किक ’, hence

they are not in locality of each other. Only pronominals are permitted with non-local

antecedents.

Examples - Conclusion

Configuration Anaphors Pronominals R-Expression

No-Antecedent * OK OKLocal Antecedent OK * *

Non-Local Antecedent

* OK *

Combining the results from the previous examples we get the following 1

Reflexive/Non-Reflexive Pronouns

Based on the above set of observations we get the following Preliminary Binding Conditions:

(A) A reflexive pronoun must have an antecedent within its local clause.

(B) A non-reflexive pronoun must not have an antecedent within its local clause.

A is within B’s local clause if A and B are dominated by the same set of clausal nodes.

Issues with Preliminary Binding Conditions

Peter’s1 cat accompanies him1/2 to temple राम1 की कि&ल्ली उसके1/2 साथ मंदिदर जाती है । *Peter’s1 cat accompanies himself1/2 to temple *राम1 की कि&ल्ली स्वयं1/2 के साथ मंदिदर जाती है ।

Here ‘Peter’ or ‘राम’ is a local antecedent and violates the Binding conditions mentioned in the previous slide

So we need to modify the binding conditions

Introducing Binder/Bound

NP ‘A’ binds NP ‘B’ if and only if ‘A’ and ‘B’ are co-indexed ‘A’ precedes ‘B’ ‘A’ and ‘B’ are clausemates (arguments to the

same predicate here, accompanies)

‘A’ is called the binder and ‘B’ is called bound

In the previous example Peter’s cat and him were clausemates, but not

Peter and him

Preliminary Binding Conditions - Modified

(A) A reflexive pronoun must have a binder within its local clause.

(B) A non-reflexive pronoun must not have a binder within its local clause.

Full NP’s

His1 cat accompanies Peter1 to temple उसकी1 कि&ल्ली राम1 के साथ मंदिदर जाती है । Peter’s1 cat accompanies Peter1 to temple राम1 की कि&ल्ली राम1 के साथ मंदिदर जाती है ।

Although, in the previous table we saw that a full NP does not have any antecedent in the local clause, the above sentences are valid English sentences.

Thus introducing the concept of Binder for Full NPs leads us to the 3rd Binding Condition

(C) A full NP must not be bound

Issues with Binder

*Peter1 thinks that I hate Peter1 *राम1 सो�ता है किक मैं राम1 से दे्वर्षा करता हूँ |

According to Binding Conditions, a Full NP must not be bound(as ‘that’ or ‘किक’ separates the clauses), so the above sentence should be legit.

However, the above sentence is invalid.

Thus we need to modify the Binder definition

C-commands

Node ‘A’ c-commands node ‘B’ if and only if Neither ‘A’ nor ‘B’ dominates each other Every branching dominator of ‘A’ must

be a dominator of ‘B’.

Example

The parse tree for Hindi is same with the difference that NP precedes V while branching VP.

New Definition of Binding

NP ‘A’ binds NP ‘B’ if and only if ‘A’ and ‘B’ are co-indexed ‘A’ precedes ‘B’ ‘A’ c-commands ‘B’

Explanation through C-Command

The parse tree for Hindi is same with the difference that NP precedes V while branching VP.

Conclusions

Binding Theory provides insights into how Noun Phrases are co-indexed.

Binding Theory can be used to disambiguate sentences ( the binding conditions can be used to eliminate invalid parse trees).

References

[1] Binding Theory by Daniel Buring, Cambridge University Press(2005)

[2] ctlhpan.cityu.edu.hk/haihuapan/course

[3]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaphora_(linguistics)

Thank You