Anaphora and discourse structure

DOI10.1162/089120103322753347MaRDI QIDQ3225403zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Bonnie Webber, Matthew Stone, Alistair Knott, Aravind K. Joshi

Publication date 20 March 2012

Published in Computational Linguistics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/cs/0109010

zbMATH Keywords

anaphordiscourse structureadverbial phrasesdiscourse relation

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Natural language processing (68T50) Linguistics (91F20)

Abstract: We argue in this paper that many common adverbial phrases generally taken to signal a discourse relation between syntactically connected units within discourse structure, instead work anaphorically to contribute relational meaning, with only indirect dependence on discourse structure. This allows a simpler discourse structure to provide scaffolding for compositional semantics, and reveals multiple ways in which the relational meaning conveyed by adverbial connectives can interact with that associated with discourse structure. We conclude by sketching out a lexicalised grammar for discourse that facilitates discourse interpretation as a product of compositional rules, anaphor resolution and inference.

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Cites work

• Generalized quantifiers and natural language

Cited in

(7)

• Discourse structure and sentential information structure. An initial proposal
• The anaphora problem
• Naming, Saying, and Structure
• Supporting the formal verification of mathematical texts
• The German Vorfeld and local coherence
• Discourse particles and discourse functions
• Interpreting concession statements in light of information structure

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