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Binding Theory

Presented By: Jayant Ameta : 07005020 Chirag Sethi : 07005022 Rachit Gupta : 07d05008. Binding Theory. Contents. Motivation Introduction to Binding Theory Types of Noun Phrases Key Concepts Introduction to Binder/Bound NP Introduction to C-commands Conclusions References.

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Binding Theory

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  1. Presented By: Jayant Ameta : 07005020 Chirag Sethi : 07005022 Rachit Gupta : 07d05008 Binding Theory

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

  3. 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)

  4. Binding Theory – I[2] • Describes the conditions on the structural relations between nouns. • Concerned with three types of nouns • R – Expressions • Pronouns • Anaphors

  5. 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

  6. 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

  7. 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.

  8. 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.

  9. Examples – No Antecedents • That it rains bothers Peter1. • वर्षा से राम1 को चिंता होती है | • That it rains bothers him1. • वर्षा से उसको1 चिंता होती है | • *That it rains bothers himself1. • *वर्षा से स्वयं1 को चिंता होती है | • Observations: • Anaphors can’t occur since no antecedent is present. • Pronominals and r-expressions do not necessarily require antecedent in same clause.

  10. Examples – Local Antecedents • *Peter1 watches Peter1 in the mirror. • *राम1 दर्पण में राम1 को देखता है | • *Peter1 watches him1 in the mirror. • *राम1 दर्पण में उसको1 देखता है | • Peter1 watches himself1 in the mirror. • राम1 दर्पण में स्वयं1 को देखता है | • Observations: • It is reverse than in the previous case. • Only anaphors are permitted with local antecedents.

  11. Examples- Non-local Antecedents • *Peter2 thinks that I hate Peter2. • *राम2 सोचता है कि मैं राम2 से द्वेष करता हूँ| • Peter2 thinks that I hate him2. • राम2 सोचता है कि मैं उससे2 द्वेष करता हूँ| • *Peter2 thinks that I hate himself2. • *राम2 सोचता है कि मैं स्वयं2से द्वेष करता हूँ| • Observations: • The indexed NPs are separated by ‘that’ or ‘कि ’, hence they are not in locality of each other. • Only pronominals are permitted with non-local antecedents.

  12. Examples - Conclusion Combining the results from the previous examples we get the following 1

  13. 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.

  14. Issues with Preliminary Binding Conditions • Peter’s1 cat accompanies him1/2 to temple • राम1 की बिल्ली उसके1/2 साथ मंदिर जाती है । • *Peter’s1 cat accompanies himself1/2 to temple • *राम1 की बिल्ली स्वयं1/2के साथ मंदिर 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

  15. 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

  16. 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.

  17. Full NP’s • His1 cat accompanies Peter1 to temple • उसकी1 बिल्ली राम1 के साथ मंदिर जाती है । • Peter’s1 cat accompanies Peter1 to temple • राम1 की बिल्ली राम1 के साथ मंदिर 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

  18. Issues with Binder • *Peter1 thinks that I hate Peter1 • *राम1 सोचता है कि मैं राम1से द्वेष करता हूँ| • According to Binding Conditions, a Full NP must not be bound(as ‘that’ or ‘कि’ separates the clauses), so the above sentence should be legit. • However, the above sentence is invalid. • Thus we need to modify the Binder definition

  19. 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’.

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

  21. 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’

  22. Explanation through C-Command • The parse tree for Hindi is same with the difference that NP precedes V while branching VP.

  23. 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).

  24. 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)

  25. Thank You

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