13.2 Anaphora resolution in DRT
2 min read•july 19, 2024
(DRT) is a powerful tool for understanding how we make sense of language. It helps explain how we keep track of who and what we're talking about as a conversation unfolds, using special structures called DRSs.
One of DRT's key strengths is solving the mystery of and other words that refer back to things mentioned earlier. By mapping out the players and ideas in a conversation, DRT shows how we connect the dots and avoid confusion.
Discourse Representation Theory and Anaphora Resolution
Anaphora resolution in DRT
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- DRT represents discourse meaning and resolves anaphoric references
- (DRSs) contain discourse referents and conditions
- (pronouns, ) link to discourse referents in the DRS
- Pronouns resolved by finding matching features (gender, number)
- Definite descriptions resolved by finding unique referent satisfying descriptive content
- Accommodation may introduce new discourse referent if unique referent not found
Application of DRT principles
- Construct DRS for
- Introduce discourse referents for each (NP)
- Add conditions based on and in the discourse
- Resolve anaphoric references by linking to appropriate discourse referents
- Pronouns: find suitable antecedent matching features (he, she, it)
- Definite descriptions: find unique referent satisfying descriptive content (the book, the red car)
- Update DRS as discourse progresses, introducing new referents and conditions
Challenges of anaphora resolution
- : multiple potential antecedents for anaphoric expression
- DRT may not always resolve ambiguity, requiring pragmatic or world knowledge
- : complexity grows with discourse size and number of referents
- Challenging to implement efficient and scalable DRT-based systems
- : antecedent follows anaphoric expression
- DRT primarily focuses on anaphoric references (antecedent precedes anaphor)
- May require additional mechanisms or extensions to handle cataphora
Accessibility in DRT framework
- determines potential antecedents for anaphoric expression
- Influenced by , , hierarchical DRS organization
- Discourse structure crucial for
- DRT captures structure through and discourse relations (narration, elaboration)
- Anaphoric expressions more likely resolved to referents in same or closely related DRS
- Follows principles of and continuity
Key Terms to Review (21)
Accessibility: Accessibility in linguistics refers to how easily certain entities in discourse can be referred to or retrieved by speakers and listeners. This concept plays a crucial role in understanding how participants in a conversation maintain coherence, manage focus, and track the flow of information through the use of expressions that refer back to previously mentioned elements.
Ambiguity: Ambiguity refers to the presence of multiple meanings or interpretations within a word, phrase, or sentence, which can lead to confusion or uncertainty in understanding. This concept highlights the complexity of language, where context plays a crucial role in determining meaning. Ambiguity can exist at different levels, including words that have more than one meaning, sentences that can be interpreted in various ways, and even larger discourse structures that can shift meanings depending on the surrounding context.
Anaphora Resolution: Anaphora resolution is the process of determining the antecedent of an anaphoric expression, which is crucial for understanding how references are made in discourse. It involves recognizing how context and prior information influence the interpretation of pronouns or other referring expressions in communication, affecting meaning and coherence.
Anaphoric Expressions: Anaphoric expressions are linguistic elements that refer back to previously mentioned entities in discourse, allowing for coherence and continuity in communication. They often take the form of pronouns, definite noun phrases, or other referring expressions that link back to antecedents, which helps maintain clarity in conversations or written texts. Understanding these expressions is crucial for analyzing how meaning is constructed across sentences and how deixis can also play a role in identifying the context of these references.
Antecedent: An antecedent is a linguistic element that provides reference for another expression, usually occurring prior to that expression in discourse. Understanding antecedents is crucial for grasping how pronouns, verbs, and larger discourse units relate to each other, influencing both meaning and coherence in communication.
Cataphoric References: Cataphoric references occur when a word or phrase refers to something mentioned later in the discourse, establishing a connection before that reference is actually made. This mechanism helps to create anticipation and coherence in communication, guiding the listener or reader toward an eventual clarification of what is being referred to. It plays a significant role in how meaning is constructed and understood in a given context.
Computational Complexity: Computational complexity refers to the study of the resources required for a computer to solve a problem, particularly in terms of time and space as functions of the input size. It helps in understanding the inherent difficulty of problems and the efficiency of algorithms designed to solve them. This concept is vital in fields like computer science and linguistics, where it aids in evaluating how well algorithms can handle tasks such as anaphora resolution within discourse representation theory.
Definite Descriptions: Definite descriptions are noun phrases that specify a particular entity and typically start with the word 'the,' indicating that the speaker assumes the listener knows exactly which entity is being referred to. This concept plays a crucial role in understanding how language conveys information about specific objects or individuals, and it interacts with issues of reference, presupposition, and the resolution of ambiguity in discourse.
Discourse coherence: Discourse coherence refers to the logical connections and overall unity of meaning that make a text or conversation comprehensible and meaningful to its participants. It involves how various elements in discourse relate to each other, ensuring that ideas flow smoothly and that relationships among sentences are clear. This cohesion helps listeners or readers make sense of information, drawing on their knowledge and expectations to interpret the intended message.
Discourse continuity: Discourse continuity refers to the coherent and consistent flow of information in a conversation or text, allowing participants to understand the connections between different parts of the discourse. This concept is essential for maintaining clarity and relevance, as it enables speakers and listeners to track references, anaphora, and changes in topic without confusion.
Discourse Referent: A discourse referent is an abstract entity introduced in a discourse that allows speakers and listeners to keep track of different participants, objects, or events being discussed. It helps to connect various parts of a conversation, making it easier to refer back to previously mentioned entities without repeating their full descriptions. This concept plays a crucial role in maintaining coherence and clarity in communication.
Discourse Relations: Discourse relations refer to the connections and relationships that exist between different parts of a text or conversation, helping to structure the meaning and flow of information. These relations include various types, such as causal, temporal, and contrastive, which facilitate coherence and understanding in communication. Analyzing discourse relations is crucial for understanding how sentences relate to one another and how they contribute to the overall context of a dialogue or narrative.
Discourse Representation Structures: Discourse Representation Structures (DRS) are formal representations used to model the meaning of sentences in context, particularly how different entities and events are related within a discourse. They provide a way to capture information about reference, quantification, and anaphoric relationships, enabling a clearer understanding of how meaning is constructed across multiple sentences. DRS is essential for analyzing features like anaphora resolution and temporal reference, illustrating how discourse unfolds over time and how different pieces of information connect.
Discourse Representation Theory: Discourse Representation Theory (DRT) is a framework used to represent the meaning of sentences in context, particularly focusing on how discourse elements are structured and how references are resolved. It connects various aspects of language, including types of anaphora, dynamic semantics, and the representation of temporal information, which helps us understand how meaning is constructed during communication.
Discourse segment: A discourse segment is a coherent unit of text or spoken language that conveys a complete thought or idea. These segments help in organizing discourse and can be sentences, phrases, or larger units that provide context for understanding the meaning of the communication, especially in relation to reference and coherence.
Hierarchical DRSs: Hierarchical Discourse Representation Structures (DRSs) are a formalism used to represent the meaning of sentences in a structured way, allowing for the management of multiple levels of reference and context in discourse. This approach enables the representation of anaphora resolution by organizing information hierarchically, which makes it easier to handle relationships between entities and propositions in discourse.
Noun Phrase: A noun phrase is a group of words that functions in a sentence as a subject, object, or prepositional object and typically includes a noun and its modifiers. Noun phrases can be simple, consisting of just a noun, or complex, including determiners, adjectives, and additional nouns that provide more detail about the main noun. This structure is crucial for understanding how reference works in language and is significant in processes like anaphora resolution.
Predicates: Predicates are expressions that assert something about the subject of a sentence, typically involving a relationship between the subject and an action, property, or state. They are crucial for understanding how arguments relate to one another in a sentence, helping to structure meaning in natural language. Predicates can also play a significant role in the formal representation of sentences and the mechanisms behind resolving references in discourse.
Pronouns: Pronouns are words that take the place of nouns in sentences, making communication more efficient and less repetitive. They can refer to people, things, or ideas and vary based on their grammatical function. Pronouns are essential in understanding deixis, as they help indicate the speaker, listener, and the context of the conversation, while also playing a key role in discourse representation and anaphora resolution.
Relations: In semantics and pragmatics, relations refer to the connections or associations between different elements within a discourse, such as referring expressions and their antecedents. Understanding these relations is crucial for accurately resolving anaphora, which involves determining what a pronoun or other referring expression refers to within a context.
Syntactic Structure: Syntactic structure refers to the arrangement of words and phrases in a sentence to create meaningful expressions. It plays a crucial role in determining how different elements of a sentence relate to each other, impacting interpretation and meaning. Understanding syntactic structure is essential for grasping concepts such as compositionality, where the meaning of larger expressions derives from the meanings of their parts, as well as mechanisms like anaphora resolution in discourse representation theory (DRT), where relationships between sentences and their components are crucial for understanding reference and context.