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Specificity Condition

SYNTAX: condition on movement which states that movement out of specific NP's leads to worse results than movement out of non-specific NP's. This is shown by the contrast in (i) (showing wh-movement out of a definite NP) and (ii) (wh-movement out of a non-specific indefinite NP). Also known as Specificity Constraint.

(i)  a	 *who did you see [that picture of t]
     b	 *who did you see [John's picture of t]

(ii) a	  who did you see [three pictures of t]
     b	  who did you see [more pictures of t]

LIT. Chomsky, N. (1986b)
Chomsky, N. (1973)
Fiengo, R. & J. Higginbotham (1981)