Binding Variables in English: An Analysis Using Delayed Tree Locality
Dennis Ryan Storoshenko, Chung–hye Han · 2010
This paper presents an analysis of bound variable pronouns in English using Synchronous Tree Adjoining Grammar. Bound variables are represented as multi-component sets, composing in delayed tree-local derivations. We propose that the observed anti-locality restriction on English bound variables can be formalised in terms of a constraint on the delay in the composition of the bound variable multi-component set. While most cases are captured in a derivation making use of two simultaneous delays, maintaining weak equivalence with flexible composition, our analysis is open to derivations with an unlimited number of simultaneous delays.