ABSTRACT
Binding Theory determines whether the relations between NPs are allowed or disallowed within a particular sentence domain, called the governing category. In T. Reinhart's formulation, constraints on binding are grammatical, but all restrictions on coreference follow from pragmatic considerations. The early studies of government-binding binding theory demonstrated considerable variability in children's performance regarding Principle B. The first test of children's knowledge of Principle B in sentences with referential and quantified antecedents was by D. K. Kaufman. Reinhart's proposed version of Binding Theory, in which bound variable anaphora is determined by one module of the grammar and coreference is determined by pragmatics. Many researchers have suggested factors that might further complicate the task of establishing and designating the sentential referent for an object pronoun. The younger children categorized 77% of the ungrammatical reflexive sentences and 73% of the ungrammatical pronominal sentences as baby talk.
