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153 LAWS AND PRINCIPLES
Head Movement Constraint
This constraint is formulated by Chomsky (1986: 71) as: ‘Movement of a zerolevel
category � is restricted to the position of a head � that governs the
maximal projection � of �, where ��-governs or L-marks � if ��C.’
Is-a Condition
The Is-a condition is the name given by Allen (1978) to the fact that an endocentric
compound is a hyponym of its head, so that, for example, a tennis-ball
is a ball of some kind.
Island constraints
Island constraints were introduced by Ross (1986 [1967]) as an improvement
upon the earlier A-over-A Constraint, which turned out to be an inadequate solution
to an observed problem. The problem was to restrict the things that could be
moved by transformations, a problem which has remained important although
various solutions have been proposed since 1967. Ross proposed four constraints:
The Complex NP Constraint (Ross 1986 [1967]: 76)
No element contained in a sentence dominated by a noun phrase with
a lexical head noun may be moved out of that noun phrase by a transformation.
The Coordinate Structure Constraint (Ross 1986 [1967]: 98–9)
In a coordinate structure, no conjunct may be moved, nor may any
element contained in a conjunct be moved out of that conjunct.
The Left Branch Condition (Ross 1986 [1967]: 127)
No NP which is the leftmost constituent of a larger NP can be
reordered out of this NP by a transformational rule.
The Sentential Subject Constraint (Ross 1986 [1967]: 149)
No element dominated by an S may be moved out of that S if that node
S is dominated by an NP which is itself immediately dominated by S.
Island constraints were superseded by the Subjacency Condition, which
attempted to do the same task but in a simpler statement.
Left-Branch Condition
See Island constraints.