This squib argues that NPI-licensing and variable binding are subject to a precedence constraint. The argument is based on Dutch, which allows extraposition of PPs. There is substantial evidence that when multiple PPs appear after the verb, their order corresponds to reverse c-command (that is, postverbal PPs c-command postverbal PPs to their left). Nonetheless, variable binding and NPI-licensing in the postverbal domain are possible only when the dependent category follows its binder/licenser. We argue that this state of affairs requires (a) Quantifier Raising of the binder/licenser and (b) a precedence constraint on NPI-licensing and variable binding.

This article presents a theory of grammatical dependencies that is in accordance with basic assumptions of bare phrase structure theory. It explains Koster's (1987) configurational matrix, the observation that such dependencies share five properties: c-command by the antecedent, obligatoriness, uniqueness of the antecedent, nonuniqueness of the dependent, and locality. The theory is based on two primitive syntactic relations (copying and function application) and a nonatomic view of nodes.