Found:
trace theory
SYNTAX: theory about traces left by movement. This theory assumes that if an element X has been moved in the course of a derivation, it has left a trace in its original position. EXAMPLE: in (i) the NP John is moved while leaving a trace t, indicating its d-structure position.
(i) Johni seems [ti to have left]Since theta-marking occurs at d-structure, it is possible to determine the thematic role of the moved NP via its trace. The concept of a trace is crucial to the theory of movement and to bounding theory, because a trace can be treated as an empty category. See NP-trace, wh-trace.
| LIT. | Chomsky, N. (1986a) Chomsky, N. (1981) Chomsky, N. (1973) Riemsdijk, H. van and E. Williams (1986) |