Island

In syntax, an island is a domain which does not allow extraction. Most of the islands distinguished today were first described in Ross (1967).

Example

Well-known examples are wh-islands, Complex NP's and coordinate structures. The restrictions on extractability (Island conditions) are often designated as the Wh-island Condition, the Complex NP Constraint (CNPC), and the Coordinate Structure Constraint (CSC), respectively. See Bounding theory.

Origin

The term was introduced by Ross (1967).

Link

Utrecht Lexicon of Linguistics

Reference

• Ross, John R. 1967. Constraints on variables in syntax, doctoral dissertation, MIT (published as 'Infinite syntax!' Ablex, Norwood (1986)).

Other languages

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