01:615:305 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Binding (Linguistics), Polarity Item
11 Nov 2016
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A reflexive anaphor must have a binder in a binding domain (the binding domain is a finite cp). Last lecture we were asked if reciprocals work differently from reflexives. Principle a applies to reflexive and reciprocal anaphors: it determines the distribution of all anaphors. If you substitute a reflexive anaphor for a reciprocal in the examples from last lecture, each other" functions the say way as himself". John doesn"t coindex him and therefore, cannot be a binder for him. : john"s brother likes him. We can conclude that him cannot be c-commanded by the antecedent. We also assume that him and he function the same way. This leads to the understanding that possessors are structurally different sentences and lead to different distributions and relations. Him/he can have a binder as long as the binder occurs outside the binding domain, which is a finite cp. This is valid where him/he symbolize any pronoun.
