Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics
principle of directionality
A syntactic rule for co-ordinating structures.
The first of two co-referential constituents can be deleted in a co-ordinating structure only if the constituent appears in the right-hand branch of a node in a tree diagram, whereas the second element can be deleted only if it branches to the left. For example, Philip looks for Caroline and Philip finds Caroline can become Philip looks for and finds Caroline because the first instance of Caroline occurs to the right of looks for and the second instance of Philip occurs to the left of looks for. (
gapping)
References
co-ordination, transformational grammar
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