Abstract
Certain acceptability contrasts attending pronominal and SELF-anaphor binding are not accounted for by previous theories of Principles A and B. These contrasts are produced by “Principle D,” which limits the binding domains of antecedents that are “nonselected,” that is, of antecedents that form arguments of predicates that do not restrict the class of arguments with which these antecedents may acceptably be replaced. Further, assuming that Principle D violations are less unacceptable than Principle B violations and more unacceptable than Principle A violations, Principle D's interactions with Principles A and B account for gradations of unacceptability that cannot be accounted for using the “acceptable/unacceptable” dichotomy posited in most previous works.