Pronoun interpretation: coherence vs. centering [KR13] #
[KR13] reconcile [Hob79]'s coherence-driven account of pronoun
interpretation with the centering-driven account of [GJW95]
through a Bayesian decomposition,
P(referent | pronoun) ∝ P(pronoun | referent) × P(referent). The prior
P(referent) is a coherence-driven next-mention bias; the likelihood
P(pronoun | referent) is a centering-driven topichood (production) bias. The
two components are empirically dissociable across five passage-completion
experiments with transfer-of-possession and implicit-causality verbs.
Main declarations #
NextMentionModel,NextMentionModel.sourceBias: the coherence-marginalized priorP(Source) = Σ_CR P(CR) · P(Source | CR)(the paper's Eq. (9)).topichood,TopichoodLevel: voice and surface position to topichood, the centering-driven likelihood term.bayesianPrediction: Bayesian inversion toP(Subject | pronoun)(Eq. (13)).cb_topichood_dissociation_under_voice: Centering's backward-looking center is voice-blind wheretopichoodis voice-sensitive.
Implementation notes #
Probabilities are exact rationals (ℚ) on a 0–100 percentage scale; empirical
values are quoted from the paper's Tables 1–10. sourceBias marginalizes over
CoherenceRelation.all, so adding a coherence relation forces the mixture to be
revisited (via CoherenceRelation.mem_all) rather than silently dropping it.
References #
Experimental design #
Prompt type in passage completion experiments.
- pronoun : PromptType
- noPronoun : PromptType
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- KehlerRohde2013.instDecidableEqPromptType x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯
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- KehlerRohde2013.instReprPromptType = { reprPrec := KehlerRohde2013.instReprPromptType.repr }
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Instruction condition (transfer-of-possession experiments).
- whatNext : InstructionCond
- why : InstructionCond
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- KehlerRohde2013.instDecidableEqInstructionCond x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯
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The Bayesian model #
The coherence-marginalized next-mention bias (the paper's Eq. (9)):
P(referent) = Σ_CR P(CR) × P(referent | CR), a mixture of CR-specific biases
weighted by the prior over coherence relations — the coherence-driven prior.
Probabilities are percentages (0–100).
- pCR : Discourse.Coherence.CoherenceRelation → ℚ
P(CR): prior probability of coherence relation (%)
- pSourceGivenCR : Discourse.Coherence.CoherenceRelation → ℚ
P(referent = Source | CR): Source bias given CR (%)
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Topichood level, determined by grammatical construction. Passive subjects
signal stronger topichood than active subjects, since a marked construction
placing an entity in subject position is a stronger topic indicator
([Dav84]). The likelihood P(pronoun | referent) tracks this level,
not grammatical role per se.
- strong : TopichoodLevel
- default_ : TopichoodLevel
- low : TopichoodLevel
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- KehlerRohde2013.instDecidableEqTopichoodLevel x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯
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Compute topichood from voice and surface position.
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Aspect manipulation #
Table 1: Source interpretation rate by aspect. Imperfective focuses on the ongoing event (Source still central); perfective focuses on the end state (Goal = endpoint of transfer).
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Imperfective yields more Source interpretations than perfective.
Coherence relation analysis #
Coherence relation frequency and bias data from Table 2 (perfective
condition, transfer-of-possession verbs). The paper's "Violated Expectation"
is modelled as CoherenceRelation.contrast: it is a denial-of-expectation
relation, which [Umb04] classes with contrast, though [Keh02]
alternatively files it under cause-effect. No theorem here depends on its
coherence class.
- freqPct : ℚ
- sourceGivenCR : ℚ
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- KehlerRohde2013.instReprCRDatum = { reprPrec := KehlerRohde2013.instReprCRDatum.repr }
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- KehlerRohde2013.crOccasion = { cr := Discourse.Coherence.CoherenceRelation.occasion, freqPct := 38, sourceGivenCR := 18 }
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- KehlerRohde2013.crElaboration = { cr := Discourse.Coherence.CoherenceRelation.elaboration, freqPct := 28, sourceGivenCR := 98 }
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- KehlerRohde2013.crExplanation = { cr := Discourse.Coherence.CoherenceRelation.explanation, freqPct := 18, sourceGivenCR := 80 }
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- KehlerRohde2013.crViolatedExp = { cr := Discourse.Coherence.CoherenceRelation.contrast, freqPct := 8, sourceGivenCR := 76 }
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- KehlerRohde2013.crResult = { cr := Discourse.Coherence.CoherenceRelation.result, freqPct := 6, sourceGivenCR := 8 }
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Occasion and Result are Goal-biased (Source < 50%).
Elaboration, Explanation, and Violated Expectation are Source-biased.
The overall ~57/43 Source/Goal split masks strong CR-conditioned biases: Occasion is most common (.38) and Goal-biased (.18 Source); Elaboration is second (.28) and strongly Source-biased (.98).
Instruction manipulation: P(CR) shift #
Table 3: "What happened next?" yields Occasion-dominated completions; "Why?" yields Explanation-dominated ones. Instructions shift P(CR) without changing the stimuli.
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Table 5: Source interpretation by instruction condition (perfective). Shifting P(CR) shifts P(referent), as predicted by the mixture (Eq. (9)).
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The instruction effect is 48 pp on identical stimuli — no morphosyntactic heuristic can account for it.
Bias stability: P(ref | CR) invariance #
Table 4: P(Source | CR) is stable across the original experiment and the instruction manipulation, supporting the structural claim that CR-conditioned biases are properties of the coherence relation itself, not the experimental context.
- originalPct : ℚ
- instructionPct : ℚ
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- KehlerRohde2013.stabElaboration = { cr := Discourse.Coherence.CoherenceRelation.elaboration, originalPct := 98, instructionPct := 100 }
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- KehlerRohde2013.stabExplanation = { cr := Discourse.Coherence.CoherenceRelation.explanation, originalPct := 80, instructionPct := 82 }
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- KehlerRohde2013.stabOccasion = { cr := Discourse.Coherence.CoherenceRelation.occasion, originalPct := 18, instructionPct := 27 }
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- KehlerRohde2013.stabResult = { cr := Discourse.Coherence.CoherenceRelation.result, originalPct := 8, instructionPct := 9 }
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Bias direction (above/below 50%) is preserved for all five CRs across conditions: P(CR) can shift independently of P(ref | CR).
Bidirectionality: pronoun → coherence #
Table 6: CR distribution by prompt type. The mere presence of an ambiguous pronoun shifts coherence expectations toward Source-biased relations. This bidirectionality — coreference affects coherence, not just vice versa — is predicted by Bayes (Eq. (12)) but not by Hobbs (pronouns are inert free variables) or Centering (does not model coherence).
- prompt : PromptType
- freqPct : ℚ
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- KehlerRohde2013.npElaboration = { prompt := KehlerRohde2013.PromptType.noPronoun, cr := Discourse.Coherence.CoherenceRelation.elaboration, freqPct := 6 }
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- KehlerRohde2013.npExplanation = { prompt := KehlerRohde2013.PromptType.noPronoun, cr := Discourse.Coherence.CoherenceRelation.explanation, freqPct := 20 }
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- KehlerRohde2013.npOccasion = { prompt := KehlerRohde2013.PromptType.noPronoun, cr := Discourse.Coherence.CoherenceRelation.occasion, freqPct := 36 }
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- KehlerRohde2013.npResult = { prompt := KehlerRohde2013.PromptType.noPronoun, cr := Discourse.Coherence.CoherenceRelation.result, freqPct := 13 }
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- KehlerRohde2013.ppElaboration = { prompt := KehlerRohde2013.PromptType.pronoun, cr := Discourse.Coherence.CoherenceRelation.elaboration, freqPct := 20 }
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- KehlerRohde2013.ppExplanation = { prompt := KehlerRohde2013.PromptType.pronoun, cr := Discourse.Coherence.CoherenceRelation.explanation, freqPct := 28 }
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- KehlerRohde2013.ppOccasion = { prompt := KehlerRohde2013.PromptType.pronoun, cr := Discourse.Coherence.CoherenceRelation.occasion, freqPct := 28 }
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- KehlerRohde2013.ppResult = { prompt := KehlerRohde2013.PromptType.pronoun, cr := Discourse.Coherence.CoherenceRelation.result, freqPct := 5 }
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Pronoun prompt increases Source-biased CRs.
Pronoun prompt decreases Goal-biased CRs.
Voice manipulation: implicit-causality verbs #
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Voice affects next-mention in the pronoun condition: active (.77) vs. passive (.42). Passivization moves the causally-implicated referent out of subject position — same proposition, different bias.
In the no-pronoun condition the pattern reverses: passive (.76) > active (.59). By-phrases are optional in English, so their inclusion signals the referent will be re-mentioned.
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Voice affects coherence in the pronoun condition: active produces more Explanations than passive. Since the propositions are identical, this is mediated by the shift in pronominal reference — bidirectional coherence–coreference dependency.
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Passive subjects are pronominalized more than active subjects (87% vs. 62%).
Both are subjects, so this is not explicable by grammatical role; it reflects
the stronger topichood signal of the passive — the key evidence that
P(pronoun | referent) tracks topichood, not subjecthood.
Non-subject pronominalization is invariant across voice (24% vs. 23%): at the
same (low) topichood level, the voice manipulation has no effect on
pronominalization rate. This is the Independence Hypothesis —
P(pronoun | referent) does not depend on coherence-driven factors.
Subjects are pronominalized more than non-subjects in both voices — the centering-derived component.
Topichood monotonically predicts pronominalization: strong (passive subject, 87%) > default (active subject, 62%) > low (non-subject, ~24%).
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Bayesian predictions are directionally correct: active > passive in both predicted and actual biases.
The passive prediction is highly accurate (59% vs. 60%).
Mixture derivation (Eq. (9)) #
The coherence-marginalized Source bias of a NextMentionModel. This is the
paper's Eq. (9), P(Source) = Σ_CR P(CR) × P(Source | CR), as a percentage —
marginalizing over CoherenceRelation.all.
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- m.sourceBias = List.foldl (fun (acc : ℚ) (cr : Discourse.Coherence.CoherenceRelation) => acc + m.pCR cr * m.pSourceGivenCR cr) 0 Discourse.Coherence.CoherenceRelation.all / 100
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The "Why?" mixture exceeds the "What next?" mixture, derived from the model rather than read off Table 5: Explanation (Source-biased at 82%) dominates the "Why?" mixture at 91% P(CR).
The computed mixtures track Table 5: "Why?" → ~84% Source, "What next?" → ~36% Source (vs. observed 82% and 34%), the small gap from integer rounding and the "Other" CR category.
Bayesian inversion (Eq. (13)) #
P(Subject | pronoun) via Bayes' rule (Eq. (13)), from P(Subject next-mentioned) (no-pronoun data) and P(pronoun | position) (pronominalization rates). Result is a percentage.
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- KehlerRohde2013.bayesianPrediction pSubj pPronSubj pPronNonSubj = pPronSubj * pSubj * 100 / (pPronSubj * pSubj + pPronNonSubj * (100 - pSubj))
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Active voice: from P(Subject) = 59% (Table 7), P(pronoun | Subject) = 62%, P(pronoun | NonSubject) = 24% (Table 9), Bayes' rule yields ≈ 78% (the paper reports 81% from unrounded data; the direction matches).
Passive voice: from P(Subject) = 100 − 76 = 24% (Table 7), P(pronoun | Subject) = 87%, P(pronoun | NonSubject) = 23% (Table 9), Bayes' rule yields ≈ 54%.
Bayes' rule derives active > passive for P(Subject | pronoun) even though passive subjects are pronominalized more (87% vs. 62%): the lower passive prior P(Subject) (24% vs. 59%) dominates, reversing the production bias.
Coherence–referent bridge #
The two Goal-biased CRs (Occasion, Result) both focus on what happens after the prior event; for transfer verbs the endpoint is the Goal.
Explanation is Source-biased and selects for causes (backward causal). For transfer verbs the Source is the cause; for IC verbs the stimulus is — the bridge to IC bias studies.
The contiguity class does not uniformly predict bias: Occasion (18% Source) and Elaboration (98% Source) are both contiguity relations with opposite biases. Occasion focuses on the end state (Goal); Elaboration redescribes the same event (Source). Bias is set by the relation, not the class.
Centering substrate connection #
[KR13] is the Bayesian–Centering reconciliation paper, so this
section grounds the file's topichood/bayesianPrediction apparatus in the
Discourse/Centering/ substrate (cb, cp, Rule1Gordon). Under the standard
grammatical-role Cf ranking (SUBJECT > OBJECT > OTHER, [Kam86]), the CB
is invariant under voice — both (Amanda, SUBJ) (Brittany, OBJ) and
(Amanda, SUBJ) (Brittany, OTHER-by-phrase) make Amanda the most-preferred Cf —
yet topichood distinguishes them (passive subject .strong, active subject
.default_). The voice-induced pronominalization gradient (87% vs. 62%) lives in
the topichood signal, not the CB signal; this dissociation is the structural
reason RosaArnold2017.independence_violated_bridges_to_KR finds the Independence
Hypothesis empirically violatable.
Two referents in the toy KR2013 example: Amanda (subject across voice manipulations) and Brittany (object/by-phrase).
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Prior "Amanda V'd Brittany": Amanda SUBJ, Brittany OBJ. Under Kameyama's role
ranking the forward-looking centers are [Amanda, Brittany] with Amanda Cp.
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Active continuation "She V'd her" — Amanda still SUBJ, both pronouns.
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Passive continuation "Amanda was V'd by Brittany" — Amanda promoted to SUBJ by
the marked passive; Brittany now in the by-phrase (OTHER). The proposition is
identical; only the construction differs.
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Cp of the prior utterance is Amanda (SUBJ outranks OBJ).
CB is invariant under voice: both continuations have CB = Amanda, since Amanda
is in prev.cf and realized in both, and the grammatical-role ranker cannot
see voice — both subjects rank equally as .subject.
Both voice variants have CB = Amanda specifically.
KR2013's topichood is voice-sensitive: the same subject-position Amanda is
.strong under passive marking but .default_ under active — the gradient
driving the 87% vs. 62% pronominalization difference (Table 9).
The dissociation: Centering's CB and KR2013's topichood diverge on the voice
manipulation. CB is the same in both (Amanda); topichood differs (.strong
vs. .default_). The 25-pp pronominalization gap (Table 9) lives in the
topichood signal, not the CB signal — "P(pronoun | referent) tracks
topichood, not subjecthood."
Rule 1 (Gordon) is satisfied in both voice variants — both Amanda-realizations are pronominal — so the substrate Rule 1 constraint is voice-insensitive too. KR2013's contribution is the gradient it averages over: among Rule 1-satisfying utterances, passive-subject ones pronominalize 87% of the time vs. 62% for active (Table 9).
Centering as the qualitative skeleton of KR2013's likelihood: where
Rule1Gordon says "the CB should be pronominalized" (Bool), the likelihood
P(pronoun | referent) says "at a rate proportional to topichood" (gradient).
The 87% / 62% / ~24% rates (Table 9) monotonically track the
.strong / .default_ / .low levels (topichood_monotone).