[...] α is the governing category for β if and only if α is the minimal category containing β and a governor of β, where α = NP or S.
- Chomsky (1993), a pag.188

[…] β is a "governing category" for α if and only if β is the minimal category containing α, a governor of α, and a SUBJECT accessible to α.
- Chomsky (1993), a pag.211

In the Pisa lectures [...] a governing category for β was defined as a category containing β and a governor of β, and a minimal governing category as a governing category contained in all governing categories. I am now using only the notion "minimal governing category" of the Pisa lectures, now called "governing category".
- Chomsky (1993), a pag.224