unbounded dependency

A term used in some theories of GRAMMAR (such as GENERALIZED PHRASE-STRUCTURE GRAMMAR) to refer to a CONSTRUCTION in which a SYNTACTIC RELATION holds between two CONSTITUENTS such that there is no restriction on the structural distance between them (e.g. a restriction which would require that both be constituents of the same CLAUSE); also called a long distance clause. In English, CLEFT sentences, TOPICALIZATION, WH-QUESTIONS and RELATIVE clauses have been proposed as examples of constructions which involve this kind of DEPENDENCY; for instance, a wh-constituent may occur at the beginning of a main clause, while the construction with which it is connected may be one, two or more clauses away, as in What has John done?/What do they think John has done?/What do they think we have said John has done?, etc. In GOVERNMENT-BINDING THEORY, unbounded dependencies are analyzed in terms of MOVEMENT. In GPSG, use is made of the feature SLASH. The term is increasingly used outside the generative context.