Empty category principle
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article describes a highly specialized aspect of its subject. Please help improve this article by adding more general information. |
The Empty Category Principle (ECP) is part of Government and Binding Theory. It describes a universal syntactic constraint that requires traces to be properly governed. Proper government is defined as follows:
A properly governs B iff A theta-governs B or A antecedens-governs B.
A theta-governs B iff A governs B and A theta-marks B.
A antecedent-governs B iff A governs B and is coindexed with B.
[edit] Sources
Liliane Haegeman 1994: Introduction to Government and Binding Theory (second edition). Blackwell Publishers
