Specified subject condition

Definition
The Specified Subject Condition is a condition introduced in Chomsky (1973) which states that:

(i)   No rule can involve X, Y in the structure ... X ... [a ... Z ... -WYV ... ] ... where Z is the specified subject of WYZ in a

Informally, a subject is specified if it is overt. Therefore, the reciprocal each other can be bound by the men in (ii), but not in (iii):

(ii)	The men saw [NP the pictures of each other] (iii) *The men saw [NP John's pictures of each other]

The specified subject John in (iii) blocks the binding relation between the men and each other. In later work, the SSC is subsumed under the binding theory.

Links

 * Utrecht Lexicon of Linguistics