This dissertation seeks to provide an improved syntactic analysis of the phenomena known as "island constraints" and to offer a natural explanation for these and other phenomena in behavioral terms. The author approaches the problem using the notions of "nucleus" and "satellite," and shows that these concepts are a necessary part of a…

Two traditions are distinguishable in modern linguistic theory: the tradition of "universal grammar" which flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries, and the tradition of structural or descriptive linguistics which reached its peak 15 or 20 years ago. Universal grammar was concerned with (1) the relation of deep structure to surface forms and to…