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Reference.org
Syntactic movement
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<p>Syntactic movement is the means by which some theories of syntax address <a href="/facts/Discontinuity_(linguistics)/CXYguDTp">discontinuities</a>. Movement was first postulated by <a href="/facts/Structural_linguistics/lbAbLF8h">structuralist linguists</a> who expressed it in terms of <i>discontinuous constituents</i> or <i>displacement</i>. Some <a href="/facts/Constituent_(linguistics)/7eIG0Ap3">constituents</a> appear to have been displaced from the position in which they receive important features of interpretation. The concept of movement is controversial and is associated with so-called <i>transformational</i> or <i>derivational</i> theories of syntax (such as <a href="/facts/Transformational_grammar/vqIyVYdP">transformational grammar</a>, <a href="/facts/Government_and_binding_theory/2DTpSetS">government and binding theory</a>, <a href="/facts/Minimalist_program/K6YhIlAz">minimalist program</a>). Representational theories (such as <a href="/facts/Head-driven_phrase_structure_grammar/MW1TXsca">head-driven phrase structure grammar</a>, <a href="/facts/Lexical_functional_grammar/UqAfrL1G">lexical functional grammar</a>, <a href="/facts/Construction_grammar/dpPLkX3w">construction grammar</a>, and most <a href="/facts/Dependency_grammar/cWnwcCM0">dependency grammars</a>), in contrast, reject the notion of movement and often instead address discontinuities with other mechanisms including graph reentrancies, feature passing, and <a href="/facts/Type_shifter/Jm1cDtFr">type shifters</a>. </p>