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Complex NP Constraint

SYNTAX: one of the conditions on transformations in early generative syntax:

(i)  No element contained in an S dominated by an NP
     with a lexical head noun may be moved out of that NP 
     by a transformation. (Ross 1967:70)
This condition accounts for the ungrammaticality of (ii):
(ii) * Who did you hear [NP the rumor [CP that Mary kissed t ]]
More recently, this class of facts have been analyzed as subjacency violations.
LIT. Ross, J.R. (1967)