Discourse Coherence and Shifting Centers in Japanese Texts

Abstract

In 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.