Discourse Coherence and Shifting Centers in Japanese Texts

Simple item page
dc.creatorIida, Masayo
dc.date1996-09-24
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T09:10:39Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T09:10:39Z
dc.descriptionIn languages such as Japanese, the use of {\it zeros}, unexpressed arguments of the verb, in utterances that shift the topic involves a risk that the meaning intended by the speaker may not be transparent to the hearer. However, this potentially undesirable conversational strategy often occurs in the course of naturally-occurring discourse. In this chapter, I report on an empirical study of 250 utterances with {\it zeros} in 20 Japanese newspaper articles. Each utterance is analyzed in terms of centering transitions and the form in which centers are realized by referring expressions. I also examine lexical subcategorization information, and tense and aspect in order to test the hypothesis that the speaker expects the hearer to use this information in determining global discourse structure. I explain the occurrence of {\it zeros} in {\sc retain} and {\sc rough-shift} centering transitions, by claiming that a {\it zero} can only be used in these cases when the shift of centers is supported by contextual information such as lexical semantics, tense and aspect, and agreement features. I then propose an algorithm by which centering can incorporate these observations to integrate centering with global discourse structure, and thus enhance its ability for non-local pronoun resolution.
dc.description20 pages, uses elsart12.sty, lingmacros.sty, named.sty
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/cmp-lg/9609007
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/cmp-lg/9609007
dc.identifierCentering in Discourse, Oxford University Press; Eds. Walker, Joshi and Prince, In Press
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/151408
dc.subjectComputation and Language
dc.titleDiscourse Coherence and Shifting Centers in Japanese Texts
dc.typetext

Files

Collections

arXiv