Anaphora and discourse structure

DOI10.1162/089120103322753347zbMATH Open1234.91006arXivcs/0109010OpenAlexW2109783296MaRDI QIDQ3225403FDOQ3225403

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

Publication date: 20 March 2012

Published in: Computational Linguistics (Search for Journal in Brave)

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.

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

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zbMATH Keywords

anaphordiscourse structureadverbial phrasesdiscourse relation

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

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

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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