Empty operator

Empty operator is an Operator without phonological content.

Example

in (i) the 'implicit relative pronoun' is an empty operator binding the variable t.

(i) the man [CP Oi [IP you fired ti yesterday]]

An empty operator has also been postulated for Parasitic gap constructions and Tough-movement constructions.

Link

Utrecht Lexicon of Linguistics

References

• Chomsky, N. 1982. Some concepts and consequences of the theory of government and binding, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.
• Haegeman, L. 1991. Introduction to Government and Binding Theory, Oxford, Blackwell.