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Frozen Structure Constraint

SYNTAX: constraint formulated in Ross (1967) which says that if a clause has been extraposed from a NP whose head noun is lexical, this NP may not be moved, nor may any element of the clause be moved out of that clause. The first part is illustrated in (i), the second part in (ii).

(i)  * [_NP Which packages t_i ]_j didn't Sam pick up t_j  until it had 
        stopped raining [which are to be mailed tomorrow]_i
(ii) * The coat [which_i a girl t_j came in [_{S_j} who had worn t_i]] was torn

The second part of the constraint can now be subsumed under the Adjunct Condition, given that extraposition is an adjunction operation.

LIT.

Ross, J.R. (1967)