Centering in Japanese Discourse
<|reference_start|>Centering in Japanese Discourse: In this paper we propose a computational treatment of the resolution of zero pronouns in Japanese discourse, using an adaptation of the centering algorithm. We are able to factor language-specific dependencies into one parameter of the centering algorithm. Previous analyses have stipulated that a zero pronoun and its cospecifier must share a grammatical function property such as {\sc Subject} or {\sc NonSubject}. We show that this property-sharing stipulation is unneeded. In addition we propose the notion of {\sc topic ambiguity} within the centering framework, which predicts some ambiguities that occur in Japanese discourse. This analysis has implications for the design of language-independent discourse modules for Natural Language systems. The centering algorithm has been implemented in an HPSG Natural Language system with both English and Japanese grammars.<|reference_end|>
@article{walker1996centering,
    title={Centering in Japanese Discourse},
    author={Marilyn Walker, Masayo Iida and Sharon Cote},
    journal={COLING90: Proceedings 13th International Conference on
  Computational Linguistics, Helsinki},
    year={1996},
    archivePrefix={arXiv},
    eprint={cmp-lg/9609005},
    primaryClass={cmp-lg cs.CL}
}