Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Optimization of Discourse Anaphora

  • Published:
Linguistics and Philosophy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this paper the Centering model of anaphoraresolution and discourse coherence(Grosz et al. 1983, 1995)is reformulated in terms of Optimality Theory (OT)(Prince and Smolensky 1993). One version of the reformulated modelis proven to be descriptively equivalent to an earlier algorithmicstatement of Centering due to Brennan, Friedman and Pollard(1987). However, the new model is stated declaratively, and makesclearer the status of the various constraints used in the theory. Inthe second part of the paper, the model is extended, demonstratingthe advantages of the OT reformulation, and capturing formallyideas originally described by Grosz, Joshi and Weinstein. Three newapplications of the extended OT Centering model are described:generation of linguistic forms from meanings, the evaluation andoptimization of extended texts, and the interpretation of accentedpronouns.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

REFERENCES

  • Abbott, B.: 2001, 'Definiteness and Indefiniteness', Laurence R. Horn and Gregory Ward (eds.), The Handbook of Pragmatics.

  • Aissen, J.: 1992, 'Topic and Focus in Mayan', Language 68(1), 43–80.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aissen, J.: 1999, 'Markedness and Subject Choice in Optimality Theory', Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 17, 673–711.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arnold, J.: 1998, 'Reference Form and Discourse Patterns', Ph.D. thesis, Stanford University.

  • Aronoff, M.: 1976, Word Formation in Generative Grammar, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Asher, N. and A. Lascarides: 1994, 'Intentions and Information in Discourse', in J. Pustejovsky (ed.), Proceedings of the Thirty-Second Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics, pp. 35–41, Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beaver, D.: 1999a, 'The Logic of Anaphora Resolution', in P. Dekker (ed.), Proceedings of the 12th Amsterdam Colloquium, University of Amsterdam.

  • Beaver, D.: 1999b, 'Pragmatics (To a First Approximation)', in J. Gerbrandy, M. Marx, M. de Rijke, and Y. Venema (eds.), JFAK — Essays Dedicated to Johan van Benthem on the Occasion of his 50th Birthday, Amsterdam University Press, Vossiuspers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beaver, D.: 2000, 'Pragmatics, and That's an Order', in D. Barker-Plummer, D. Beaver, J. van Benthem, and P. S. di Luzio (eds.), Symbols, Logic and Computation, CSLI Press.

  • Blutner, R.: 2000, 'Some Aspects of Optimality in Natural Language Interpretation', Journal of Semantics 17(3), 189–216.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blutner, R. and G. Jäger: 1999, 'Competition and interpretation: The German Adverbs of Repetition', available at http://www2.hu-berlin.de/asg/blutner/.

  • Boersma, P. and B. Hayes: 2001, 'Empirical Tests of the Gradual Learning Algorithm', Linguistic Inquiry 32, 45–86.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bolinger, D.: 1977, Meaning and Form, Longman, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brennan, S.: 1995, 'Centering Attention in Discourse', Langauge and Cognitive Processes 10, 137–167.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brennan, S., M. Friedman, and C. Pollard: 1987, 'A Centering Approach to Pronouns', in Proceedings of the 25th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics, Association for Computational Linguistics, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bresnan, J. (ed.): 1982, The Mental Representation of Grammatical Relations, The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bresnan, J.: 1999, 'The Emergence of the Unmarked Pronoun', in G. Legendre, S. Vikner, and J. Grimshaw (eds.), Optimality-Theoretic Syntax, MIT Press.

  • Brown, G. and G. Yule: 1983, Discourse Analysis, Cambridge University Press.

  • Buring, D.: 1999, 'On D-Trees, Beans, and B-Accents', MS., UCSC.

  • Cahn, J.: 1995, 'The Effect of Pitch Accenting on Pronoun Referent', in Proceedings of the 33rd International Joint Conference in Artificial Intelligence (Student Session), pp. 290–292, Association for Computational Linguistics.

  • Christopherson, P.: 1939, The Artocles: A Study of Their Theory and Use in English, Munksgaard, Copenhagen.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Hoop, H.: 2000, 'Optional Scrambling and Interpretation', in H. Bennis, M. Everaert, and E. Reuland (eds.), Interface Strategies, pp. 153–168, KNAW, Amsterdam.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Hoop, H. and H. de Swart: 1998, 'Temporal Adjunct Clauses in Optimality Theory', OTS, Utrecht.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dekker, P. and R. van Rooy: 2000, 'Optimality Theory and Game Theory: Some Parallels', Journal of Semantics 17(3), 217–242.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eckert, M. and M. Strube: 2000, 'Dialogue Acts, Synchronising Units and Anaphora Resolution', Journal of Semantics, to appear.

  • Eugenio, B. D.: 1998, 'Centering in Italian', in E. Prince, A. Joshi, and L. Walker (eds.), Centering in Discourse, pp. 115–38, Oxford University Press.

  • Givón, T.: 1983, 'Topic Continuity in Spoken Discourse', in T. Givón (ed.), Topic Continuity in Discourse: Quantified Cross-Linguistic Studies, pp. 347–363, John Benjamins, Amsterdam.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gordon, P. and D. Chan: 1995, 'Pronouns, Passives and Discourse Coherence', Journal of Memory and Language 34, 216–231.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gordon, P., B. Grosz, and L. Gilliom: 1993, 'Pronouns, Names, and the Centering of Attention in Discourse', Cognitive Science 17(3), 311–347.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gordon, P. and R. Hendrick: 1997, 'Intuitive Knowledge of Linguistic Co-reference', Cognition 62, 325–370.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grimshaw, J.: 1997, 'Projection, Heads and Optimality', Linguistic Inquiry 28(3).

  • Groenendijk, J. and M. Stokhof: 1991, 'Dynamic Predicate Logic', Linguistics and Philosophy 14, 39–100.

    Google Scholar 

  • Groenendijk, J., M. Stokhof, and F. Veltman: 1995, 'Coreference and Modality', in S. Lappin (ed.), The Handbook of Contemporary Semantic Theory, Blackwell, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grosz, B.: 1977, 'The Representation and Use of Focus in a System for Understanding Dialogue', in Proceedings of the Fifth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Cambridge, MA.

  • Grosz, B., A. Joshi, and S. Weinstein: 1983, 'Providing a Unified Account of Definite Noun Phrases in Discourse', in Proceedings of the 21st Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics, pp. 44–49, Association for Computational Linguistics, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grosz, B., A. Joshi, and S. Weinstein: 1995, 'Centering: A Framework for Modeling the Local Coherence of Discourse', Computational Linguistics 21(2), 203–226.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grosz, B. and C. Sidner: 1986, 'Attention, Intentions, and the Structure of Discourse', Computational Linguistics 12, 175–204.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grosz, B. and C. Sidner: 1998, 'Lost Intuitions and Forgotten Intentions', in M. Walker, A. Joshi, and E. Prince (eds.), Centering Theory in Discourse, pp. 89–112, Clarendon Press, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gundel, J.: 1998, 'Centering Theory and the Givenness Hierarchy: Towards a Synthesis', in M. Walker, A. Joshi, and E. Prince (eds.), Centering Theory in Discourse, pp. 359–400, Clarendon Press, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gundel, J., N. Hedberg, and R. Zacharski: 1993, 'Cognitive Status and the Form of Referring Expressions in Discourse', Language 69, 274–307.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heim, I.: 1982, 'On the Semantics of Definite and Indefinite Noun Phrases', Ph.D. thesis, Umass, Amherst.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hendriks, P. and H. de Hoop: 2001, 'Optimality Theoretic Semantics', Linguistics and Philosophy 24(1), 1–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hitzeman, J. and M. Poesio: 1998, 'Long Distance Pronominalisation and Global Focus', in COLING-ACL, pp. 550–556.

  • Hobbs, J.: 1985, 'The Coherence and Structure of Discourse Technical Report CSLI 85-37'.

  • Hobbs, J., M. Stickel, D. Appelt, and P. Martin: 1993, ‘Interpretation as Abduction’, Artificial Intelligence 63(1–2), 69–142.

    Google Scholar 

  • Horn, L.: 1984, 'Toward a New Taxonomy for Pragmatic Inference: Q-Based and R-Based Implicature', in D. Schiffrin (ed.), Meaning, Form, and Use in Context: Linguistic Applications, pp. 11–42, Georgetown University Press, Washington, DC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hudson-D'Zmura, S.: 1989, 'Centering: A Framework for Modelling the Local Coherence of Discourse', Ph.D. thesis, University of Rochester.

  • Joshi, A. and S. Kuhn: 1979, 'Centered Logic: The Role of Entity Centered Sentence Representation in Natural Language Inferencing', in Proceedings of the 6th International Joint Conference in Artificial Intelligence, pp. 435–439, Tokyo.

  • Joshi, A. and S. Weinstein: 1981, 'Control of Inference: Role of Some Aspects of Discourse Structure — Centering', in Proceedings of the 7th International Joint Conference in Artificial Intelligence, pp. 385–387, Association for Computational Linguistics, Vancouver.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kameyama, M.: 1998, 'Intrasentential Centering: A Case Study', in M. Walker, A. Joshi, and E. Prince (eds.), Centering Theory in Discourse, pp. 89–112, Clarendon Press, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kameyama, M.: 1999, 'Stressed and Unstressed Pronouns: Complimentary Preferences', in P. Bosch and R. van der Sandt (eds.), Focus: Linguistic, Cognitive and Computational Perspectives, Cambridge University Press.

  • Kamp, H. and U. Reyle: 1993, From Discourse to Logic, Kluwer Academic Publishers.

  • Karamanis, N.: 2000, 'Centering Theory for Coherent Natural Language Generation', Ph.D. Proposal, Institute for Communicative and Collaborative Systems, University of Edinburgh.

  • Karamanis, N.: 2001, 'Exploring Entity-based Coherence', in Proceedings of CLUK 4, pp. 18–26, University of Sheffield.

  • Karamanis, N. and H.M. Manurung: 2002, 'Stochastic Text Structuring using the Principle of Continuity', in Proceedings of INLG-02, pp. 81–88, University of Columbia, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Katz, J.: 1980, 'Chomsky on Meaning', Language 56, 1–42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keenan, E.: 1976, 'Towards a Universal Definition of “Subject”', in C. N. Li (ed.), Subject and Topic, pp. 303–333, Academic Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kehler, A.: 1993, 'Intrasentential Constraints on Intersentential Anaphora in Centering Theory', Workshop on Centering Theory in Naturally Occurring Discourse, University of Pennsylvania.

  • Kehler, A.: 1997, 'Current Theories of Centering for Pronoun Interpretation: A Critical Evaluation', Computational Linguistics 23(3).

  • Kibble, R.: 1999, 'Cb or not Cb? Centering Theory Applied to NLG', Technical Report ITRI-99-17, University of Brighton. Presented at ACL Workshop on Discourse and Reference Structure, University of Maryland.

  • Kibble, R. and R. Power: 2000, 'An Integrated Framework for Text Planning and Pronominalisation', in Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Natural Language Generation (INLG-2000), Mitzpe Ramon, Israel, pp. 77–84.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kiparsky, P.: 1983, 'Word-formation and the Lexicon', in F. Ingeman (ed.), Proceedings of the 1982 Mid-America Linguistic Conference.

  • Kuno, S.: 1973, The Structure of Japanese Language, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuno, S.: 1987, Functional Syntax, Chicago University Press.

  • Lambrecht, K.: 1994, Information Structure and Sentence Form, Cambridge University Press.

  • Langendoen, D. T.: 2000, 'An Optimality Theoretic Account of the Scope of Operators', University of Arizona.

  • Lascarides, A. and N. Asher: 1993, 'Temporal Interpretation, Discourse Relations and Common Sense Entailment', Linguistics and Philosophy 16(5), 437–493.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, D.: 1979, 'Scorekeeping in a Language Game', Journal of Philosophical Logic 8, 339–359.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lochbaum, K. E.: 1998, 'A Collaborative Planning Model of Intentional Structure', Computational Linguistics 24(4), 525–572.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCawley, J.: 1978, 'Conversational Implicature and the Lexicon', in P. Cole (ed.), Syntax and Semantics 9: Pragmatics, pp. 245–259, Academic Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • McNally, L.: 1998, 'On Recent Formal Analyses of Topic', in The Tbilisi Symposium on Language, Logic, and Computation: Selected Papers, pp. 147–160, CSLI Publications, Stanford, CA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miltsakaki, E.: 1999, 'Locating Topics in Text Processing', in P. Monachesi (ed.), Proceedings of CLIN '99, pp. 127–138, UiL-OTS, Utrecht.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nakatani, C.: 1997, 'The Computational Processing of Intonational Prominence: A Functional Prosody Perspective', Ph.D. thesis, Harvard University. Available as CRCT technical report TR-15-97.

  • Pierrehumbert, J. and J. Hirschberg: 1990, 'The Meaning of Intonational Contours in Interpretation of Discourse', in P. Cohen, J. Morgan, and M. Pollack (eds.), Intentions in Communication, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Poesio, M., H. Cheng, R. Henschel, J. Hitzeman, R. Kibble, and R. Stevenson: 2000, 'Specifying the Parameters of Centering Theory: a Corpus-Based Evaluation using Text from Application-Oriented Domains', in Proceedings of the 38th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics.

  • Pollard, C. and I. Sag: 1994, Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar. University of Chicago Press and Stanford: CSLI Publications.

  • Portner, P. and K. Yabushita: 1998, 'The Semantics and Pragmatics of Topic Phrases', Linguistics and Philosophy 21(2), 117–157.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prince, A. and P. Smolensky: 1993, 'Optimality Theory: Constraint Interaction in Generative Grammar. Technical Report 2', Technical report, Rutgers University Center for Cognitive Science.

  • Prince, E.: 1981, 'Toward a Taxonomy of Given-new Information', in P. Cole (ed.), Radical Pragmatics, pp. 223–256, Academic Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reinhart, T.: 1982, 'Pragmatics and Linguistics: An Analysis of Sentence Topics', Philosophica 27, 53–94.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, C.: 1998, 'The Place of Centering in a General Theory of Anaphora Resolution', in M. Walker, A. Joshi, and E. Prince (eds.), Centering Theory in Discourse, pp. 359–400, Clarendon Press, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwarzschild, R.: 1999, 'Givenness, AvoidF and other Constraints on the Placement of Accent', Natural Language Semantics 7(2), 141–177.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sells, P.: 1999, 'Form and Function in the Typology of Grammatical Voice Systems', in Optimality-Theoretic Syntax, MIT Press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sells, P.: 2000, 'Alignment Constraints in Swedish Clausal Syntax', ms., University of Stanford.

  • Shi, D.: 2000, 'Topic and Topic-comment in Mandarin Chinese', Language 69, 274–307.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sidner, C. L.: 1983, 'Focusing in the Comprehension of Definite Anaphora', in M. Brady and R. C. Berwick (eds.), Computational Models of Discourse, pp. 267–330, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smolensky, P.: 1998, 'Why Syntax is Different (But Not Really): Ineffability, Violability and Recoverability in Syntax and Phonology', Handout from talk at the Stanford University workshop: Is Syntax Different?

  • Strube, M.: 1998, 'Never Look Back: An Alternative to Centering', in Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Computational Linguistics and the 36th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics, Montreal, pp. 1251–1257.

  • Strube, M. and U. Hahn: 1999, 'Functional Centering: Grounding Referential Coherence in Information Structure', Computational Linguistics 25(3), 309–344.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tesar, B. and P. Smolensky: 1998, 'Learnability in Optimality Theory', Linguistic Inquiry 29, 229–268.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, S. A.: 1987, 'The Passive in English: A Discourse Perspective', in R. Chan-non and L. Shockey (eds.), In Honor of Ilse Lehiste, pp. 497–511, Foris, Dordrecht.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turan, U. D.: 1995, 'Null vs. Overt Subjects in Turkish Discourse: A Centering Analysis', Ph.D. thesis, University of Pennsylvania.

  • Vallduví, E.: 1990, 'The Informational Component', Ph.D. thesis, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vallduví, E.: 1993, 'Information packaging: A Survey', Technical Report HCRC/RP-44, University of Edinburgh.

  • Vallduví, E. and M. Vilkuna: 1997, 'On Rheme and Kontrast', in P. Culicover and L. McNally (eds.), The limits of Syntax, Academic Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • van der Does, J. and H. de Hoop: 1998, 'Type-Shifting and Scrambled Definites', Journal of Semantics 15, 393–416.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker, M., M. Iida, and S. Cote: 1994, 'Japanese Discourse and the Process of Centering', Computational Linguistics 20/2, 193–232.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker, M., A. Joshi, and E. Prince (eds.), 1998, Centering Theory in Discourse, Clarendon Press, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ward, G.: 1988, The Semantics and Pragmatics of Preposing, Garland, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zeevat, H.: 1999, 'Explaining Presupposition Triggers', Ms., University of Amsterdam.

  • Zeevat, H.: 2000, 'The Assymmetry of Optimality Theoretic Syntax and Semantics', Journal of Semantics 17(3), 243–262.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Linguistics, Stanford University, Building 460, Stanford, CA, 94305-2150, USA

    David I. Beaver

Authors
  1. David I. Beaver
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Beaver, D.I. The Optimization of Discourse Anaphora. Linguistics and Philosophy 27, 3–56 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:LING.0000010796.76522.7a

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:LING.0000010796.76522.7a

Keywords

Search

Navigation