Pronominal reference to events and actions: computational foundations

When a pronoun appears in discourse, it can refer to a specific event, to various types of events, as well as to sets of events. It is not always possible to identify a one-to-one correspondence between the pronoun and its referent. This thesis presents an approach whereby such a correspondence can be identified. Two types of relationships among referents are identified: (i) a generalization relationship, which establishes the relationship between a specific event, described in the discourse, and a general class of events, and (ii) three compounding relationships, sequence, causation, and generation. These compounding relationships connect various events as compound units. A pronoun can then refer to a compound unit as a whole or to parts of it, depending on the particular compounding relationships that hold within the compound. This thesis also presents a set of rules that guide the choice of the referents of the pronouns it and that. This set of rules leads to an algorithm that generates pronouns referring to individual or compound events. By using one pronoun over the other, it is possible to indicate whether the pronoun refers to a compound referent or to parts of that compound.