Strong crossover

Definition

Strong crossover is a one kind of crossover. It occurs in configurations in which a wh-element or quantificational NP undergoes A-bar movement across a pronominal which c-commands the extraction site, as in (i):

(i) *Whoi did hei see ti 

Who is moved across he in (i). The fact that he cannot be coindexed with t_i (which would yield the reading: which x, x saw x), is referred to as 'strong crossover', because on the intended reading the structure is strongly ungrammatical. Since the wh-trace, being a variable, must be A-free, binding by he would constitute a Condition C violation. To be distinguished from weak crossover.

Links

• Utrecht Lexicon of Linguistics

References

• Chomsky, N. 1982. Some concepts and consequences of the theory of government and binding, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.
• Chomsky, N. 1981. Lectures on Government and Binding, Foris, Dordrecht.
• Chomsky, N. 1976. Conditions on Rules in Grammar, in: Chomsky 1977a., .
• Postal, P. 1971. Cross-over phenomena, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York.
• Wasow, T. 1972. Anaphoric relations in English, PhD diss., MIT, Cambridge MA.

STUB

CAT	This article needs proper categorization. You can help Glottopedia by categorizing it Please do not remove this block until the problem is fixed.