Focus and Binding

Abstract

This study explores the possibility of providing a principled account for the effects of focus on binding. There is a consensus that focused phrases do not conform to Binding Condition C, but there is variation among speakers as to whether they do not obey Binding Condition B. The major claim made here is two-fold: (i) the suppression of Binding Condition C follows from the fact that focus can be syntactically realized as the head of a focus phrase, and (ii) the speaker variation with respect to the suppression of Binding Condition B arises from a Gricean implicature.