BINDING THEORY AND ITS APPLICABILITY TO URDU: A COMPARATIVE SYNTACTIC ANALYSIS

Abstract

This study investigates the applicability of Binding Theory to Urdu within the framework of Government and Binding Theory. The research analyzes selected English sentences and their Urdu equivalents to examine the behavior of anaphors, pronouns, and R-expressions. Using a qualitative descriptive approach, the study applies the three binding principles along with the concepts of co-indexation and c-command to compare binding relations in both languages. The findings indicate that despite differences in surface word order—English following SVO and Urdu SOV—the fundamental binding principles operate similarly in both languages. The analysis suggests that the core constraints of Binding Theory are largely applicable to Urdu, supporting the idea that certain syntactic principles may reflect broader universal properties of language.