Showing papers on "Antecedent (grammar) published in 2005"

Conditional Truth and Future Reference

Abstract: This paper proposes a compositional model-theoretic account of the way the interpretation of indicative conditionals is determined and constrained by the temporal and modal expressions in their constituents. The main claim is that the tenses in both the antecedent and the consequent of an indicative conditional are interpreted in the same way as in isolation. This is controversial for the antecedents of predictive conditionals like ‘If he arrives tomorrow, she will leave’, whose Present tense is often claimed to differ semantically from that in their stand-alone counterparts, such as ‘He arrives tomorrow’. Under the unified analysis developed in this paper, the differences observed in pairs like these are explained by interactions between the temporal and modal dimensions of interpretation. This perspective also sheds new light on the relationship between ‘non-predictive’ and ‘epistemic’ readings of indicative conditionals.

The Syntax–Discourse Interface: Representing and interpreting dependency

Abstract: This book combines theoretical and experimental aspects of the establishment of dependency. It provides an account of dependency relations by focusing on the representation and interpretation of referentially dependent elements, particularly regular reflexives, logophors, and pronouns. First, the establishment of dependency is discussed within a model of syntax—discourse correspondences that predicts an economy-based dependency hierarchy contingent on the level of representation at which the dependency is formed as well as the internal structure of the dependent element and its antecedent. Secondly, the model’s predictions are substantiated by a series of experimental studies (conducted in English and Dutch) providing evidence from three sources of online sentence comprehension: reaction time studies, Broca’s aphasia patient studies, and event-related brain potential studies. The findings show that dependencies are established at distinct levels of linguistic encoding (i.e. syntax or discourse) determined by the presence or absence of coargumenthood and the representation of the dependency-forming elements.

Factors Influencing Nonprofit Resource Provider Support Decisions: Applying the Brand Equity Concept to Nonprofits

Abstract: This exploratory research examines the influence of antecedent factors on resource provider (volunteers and donors) based brand equity for a nonprofit organization. The study, utilizing a telephone survey, applies brand equity for the first time to the nonprofit sector and provides initial empirical evidence of the multidimensional influence of brand personality, brand image, and brand awareness antecedents of the resource providers’ biased decision to support the nonprofit organization after controlling for the influence of altruistic volunteerism. This extension of the branding literature is adapted from the much more common customerbased conceptualizations of Aaker (1991) and Keller (1993). The results suggest an opportunity fornonprofits to compete for these vital resources by nurturing and leveraging the antecedent factors which create resource provider based brand equity.

The syntax-discourse divide: processing ellipsis.

Abstract: VP-ellipsis and sluicing are forms of ellipsis that can cross a sentence boundary. We present a series of comprehension studies on these forms of ellipsis to elucidate their processing and the relation of syntactic and discourse processing. One set of studies examines the hypothesis that the representation of elided material is syntactically structured. We present evidence supporting the hypothesis and tentatively attribute the effects to sharing of the structure of the antecedent constituent, with structure building or substitution of a variable for a constituent permitted if it is licensed by the syntactic principles of the language. Another set of studies tests the hypothesis that a new utterance is preferentially related to the main assertion of the preceding utterance, which is typically a constituent high in the syntactic tree. The results suggest that discourse processing differs from syntactic processing, where the most accessible material is recent material found low in the syntactic tree. A final set of studies examines the interplay of the syntactic processor, which may not violate "islands," and the discourse processor, which may, in the processing of ellipsis sentences involving islands. A novel explanation is offered for the observation (Ross 1967) that sluicing out of relative-clause islands is grammatical except when sprouting is required.

On the Acquisition of Principle B

Abstract: Chien and Wexler (1990) reported that children obeyed Principle B of binding theory when the antecedent was a quantifier but not when the antecedent was referential. This was argued by Grodzinsky and Reinhart (1993) to support Reinhart's (1983) theory according to which Principle B affects only bound pronouns. Since then, other studies have supported the asymmetry between referential and quantifier antecedents. This article, however, argues that previously unremarked experimental factors lessen the force of all these studies, and it points to other relevant experiments that seem to showthat children do not obey Principle B at all. It reviews previously offered theories on the acquisition of Principle B that are compatible with the latter view of the facts.

Semantic constraints on relative clause extraposition

Abstract: Extraposed relative clauses pose certain problems for movement-based analyses. They seem to be insensitive to island constraints, and show intricate interactions with variable binding. Starting from the assumption that complement and modifier extraposition should not be treated alike, I present an analysis of relative clause extraposition that does not rely on movement. Instead, I assume that the same syntactic and semantic constraints interact to determine the grammaticality of both extraposed and non-extraposed relative clauses. Syntactically, the proposed constraints lead to the configurational superiority of the relative clause. This superiority has its origin in the semantics of the relative clause: the relative pronoun is referentially defective and remedies this deficiency by selecting an appropriate antecedent. The present analysis draws on data from German.

Pronominal Reference in Sentences about Persons or Things: An Electrophysiological Approach

Abstract: German pronouns (erMALE/masculine, sieFEMALE/feminine) that refer to a person are determined by the biological gender (MALE/FEMALE) and/or syntactic gender (masculine/feminine) of the person. Pronouns (ermasculine, siefeminine) that refer to a thing are determined by the syntactic gender of this thing (Garten [garden]masculine, Tasche [hand-bag]feminine). The study aimed to investigate whether semantic integration, syntactic integration, or both are involved in establishing co-reference between pronoun and subject/antecedent in sentences. Here we focused on two event-related potential components: the SPS/P600, related to syntactic violation and reanalysis, and the N400 component, related to semantic integration problems. In one condition, a person was introduced as antecedent and later referred to by a pronoun, which either agreed in biological/syntactic gender or not (biological/syntactic gender violation). In a second condition, a thing was introduced as antecedent and the corresponding pronoun either agreed in syntactic gender or not (syntactic gender violation). Results at critical pronouns showed a P600 effect for incongruent compared with congruent pronouns in both conditions with a centro-parietal maximum. This effect was larger for the person compared to the thing condition. We interpreted this finding as reflecting a syntactic integration process that can be influenced by conceptual/semantic and syntactic information of the antecedent type. Furthermore, at the word following the pronoun, we observed an N400 for the thing but not for the person condition. We suggest, supported by the results of a control experiment, that this effect ref lects continuous integration processes for things, whereas for persons the integration seems to be finished at pronoun position.

Brief Antecedent Assessment and Treatment of Tics in the General Education Classroom A Preliminary Investigation

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to determine if specific classroom antecedents were associated with motor and vocal tics in two males diagnosed with Tourette's syndrome. A functional assessment consisting of teacher and student interviews, direct observations, brief functional analysis, and confirmatory naturalistic observations indicated that specific antecedents could be identified for each participant. Simplified habit reversal was then implemented only under the antecedent condition that resulted in the highest rate of tics. The rate of tics decreased under the specific antecedent condition as well as at other times as validated by behavioral observations conducted at random times. The discussion focuses on the utility of conducting such assessments, the methodological and applied limitations of the current study, and avenues for further research.

Automatic Recognition of French Expletive Pronoun Occurrences.

Abstract: We present a tool, called ILIMP, which takes as input a raw text in French and produces as output the same text in which every occurrence of the pronoun il is tagged either with tag [ANA] for anaphoric or [IMP] for impersonal or expletive. This tool is therefore designed to distinguish between the anaphoric occurrences of il, for which an anaphora resolution system has to look for an antecedent, and the expletive occurrences of this pronoun, for which it does not make sense to look for an antecedent. The precision rate for ILIMP is 97,5%. The few errors are analyzed in detail. Other tasks using the method developed for ILIMP are described briefly, as well as the use of ILIMP in a modular syntactic analysis system.

Antecedent focus and conceptual distance effects in category noun-phrase anaphora

Abstract: Previous work has shown that category noun-phrase anaphors (e.g., bird) are read faster when they refer to typical antecedents (e.g., robin) compared to atypical ones (e.g., goose) (Garrod & Sanford, 1977). However, when the antecedent is in a syntactic cleft, there is an inverse effect of typicality (Almor, 1999). We further examined this inverse effect in two self-paced reading time studies. The results of Experiment 1 extend the inverse typicality effect to a more general effect of conceptual distance by showing faster reading times to an anaphor (e.g., vehicle) when its antecedent is clefted and more conceptually distant in a category hierarchy (e.g., hatchback) than when it is closer (e.g., car). Experiment 2 examines whether it is cleft or focus status that causes inverse conceptual distance effects and finds that inverse effects are not confined to cleft constructions, but are also present when the antecedent is in grammatical subject position.

ILIMP: Outil pour repérer les occurences du pronom impersonnel il

Abstract: We present a tool, ILIMP, which takes as input a French raw text and which produces as output the input text in which every occurrence of the word il is tagged either with the tag (ANA) for anaphoric or (IMP) for expletive. This tool is therefore designed to distinguish the anaphoric occurrences of il, for which an anaphora resolution system has to look for an antecedent, from the expletive occurrences of this pronoun, for which it does not make sense to look for an antecedent. The precision rate for ILIMP is 97,5%. The few errors are analyzed in detail. Other tasks using the method for ILIMP are described briefly, as well as the use of ILIMP in a modular syntactic analysis system.

Binding in Picture Noun Phrases: Implications for Binding Theory

Abstract: This paper investigates the binding of pronouns and reflexives in “picture” noun phrases, and focuses on data showing that reflexives and pronouns are not in complementary distribution in picture NPs with possessors. In particular, we discuss data showing that whereas reflexives can take either the possessor or the subject of the sentence as antecedent, pronouns are restricted to an antecedent other than the possessor phrase. We suggest that this asymmetry can be straightforwardly explained if we assume that (1) the possessor of a picture NP is not part of the head noun’s argument structure and (2) Binding Theory is stated over “dependents” structure, the representation encompassing both a head’s argument structure and other phrases dependent on it in various ways. If the possessor of a picture NP (PNP) is not part of the head’s argument structure, it follows that reflexives in PNPs with possessors will be “exempt” from Binding Theory, which paves the way for an analysis of the reflexive data. Furthermore, we also show that if BT is regarded as defined over dependents structure, it follows that a pronoun in a picture NP with a possessor must be disjoint from that possessor phrase.

Robust Pronominal Resolution within Chinese Text

Abstract: Anaphora Resolution is playing more and more important role in Natural Language Processing. There is an increasing need for the development of effective and robust strategies of anaphora resolution to meet the demands of practical applications. However, traditional approaches to anaphora resolution rely heavily on multilevel linguistic knowledge, such as syntactic, semantic, contextual and domain knowledge. It is undoubtedly difficult to acquire such knowledge at present. This paper presents a two-step approach with limited knowledge to resolve pronominal anaphora within Chinese text, which only uses number features, gender features and the features of grammatical roles. In this approach, a filter is firstly used to eliminate those expressions whose features are inconsistent with the pronoun, and thus form a set of potential antecedent candidates; then, a scoring algorithm is employed to calculate score of the candidates, and the candidate with the highest score is selected as the resultant antecedent. The algorithm does not examine each candidate in the set, but automatically determine whether to end the calculation or not by dynamically testing a termination condition, therefore the computational complexity is low. In addition, the approach does not need a deep analysis of the text, and can easily be implemented. Experiment shows the result is satisfactory.

Discovery of Fuzzy Temporal Associations in Multiple Data Streams

Abstract: Temporal antecedent and implicative constraints are required to ensure the relevancy of events in analyzing temporal data from multiple sources. Fuzzy predicates are used to represent imprecise temporal constraints and durations and a fuzzy partitions provide a hierarchy that allows the analysis of implicative constraints on several levels of granularity. In this paper we have outlined how standard data mining strategies can be adapted to utilize fuzzy representations in the discovery of imprecise temporal relationships between data obtained from multiple sources.

System and method for machine learning, and computer program

Abstract: PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve precision by removing unnecessary data from learning data SOLUTION: An antecedent acquiring part 2 extracts antecedent information used for machine learning from data held in a learning data holding part 1 and evaluation data inputted to a system A machine learning part 3 learns the correspondence relation between the antecedent and evaluation, based on the evaluation of each of learning data held in the learning data holding part 1 and antecedent information, on each piece of data obtained from the antecedent acquiring part 2 A data selection part 4 deletes learning data which are inadequate to the machine learning from candidates for learning data held in the learning data holding part 1, based on the learnt result obtained from the machine learning part 3 COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

The Semantics of Ellipsis

Abstract: There are four phenomena that are particularly troublesome for theories of ellipsis: the existence of sloppy readings when the relevant pronouns cannot possibly be bound; an ellipsis being resolved in such a way that an ellipsis site in the antecedent is not understood in the way it was there; an ellipsis site drawing material from two or more separate antecedents; and ellipsis with no linguistic antecedent. These cases are accounted for by means of a new theory that involves copying syntactically incomplete antecedent material and an analysis of silent VPs and NPs that makes them into higher order definite descriptions that can be bound into.

Antecedent reactivation by surface and deep anaphora in Norwegian.

Abstract: Anaphora are expressions in language that depend on other linguistic entities for their full meaning. They can furthermore be divided into two types according to the level of representation where they find their antecedents: Surface anaphora, which resolve their reference at the sentence representation level, and deep anaphora, which resolve their reference at the non-grammatical level of discourse representation. The linguistic theory of these two anaphor types, and recent findings about processing differences at these two levels, combine to predict that surface anaphora should show fast and immediate reactivation of their antecedents, whereas deep anaphora should have a slower time course of antecedent reaccess. These predictions were confirmed with two lexical decision task experiments with Norwegian stimuli.

Antecedent Selection: Comparing Simplified and Typical Verbal Antecedents for Children with Autism

Abstract: This study measured the differential effects of simplified and typical verbal antecedents on acquisition of picture discriminations for four preschool children with autism. During baseline probes, participants emitted no correct selection responses to pictures of common stimuli during either simplified or typical verbal antecedent conditions. Using an adapted alternating treatments design during training, instructors presented a simplified verbal antecedent (i.e., “Give me car”) or a typical verbal antecedent (i.e., “One of these is a car. Which one is it?”), and differentially reinforced participants’ correct selection responses given the target picture and two non-targets. Results showed that one participant emitted more correct responses during simplified than typical verbal antecedent conditions, one participant emitted more correct responses during typical than simple verbal antecedent conditions, and there was no clear difference for the other two participants.

The processing of empty subjects in english and japanese

Abstract: The present chapter is concerned with the mechanism by which the parser identifies the correct antecedent of a gap. In particular, we will discuss the particular construction involving the case of a subject gap in control structures (PRO, within the generative literature). We take a crosslinguistic perspective, in keeping with the themes of this book, and compare the results of experiments from both English and Japanese. In this chapter, we pursue this idea and propose a "theta-checking strategy" that can explain the universality of antecedent identification in control structures, as well as differences between English and Japanese concerning the processing of these empty subjects. Essentially, this strategy claims that information is used by the parser as soon as it becomes available. This follows from universal characteristics of the parser, with the acknowledgement that the time course of information availability, as well as the salience of particular cues, differs from language to language. In sections 2 and 3 we will review the experimental literature that has been put forward for these constructions in English and Japanese,

How useful are similarity word lists for indirect anaphora resolution

Abstract: This work tests the use of word similarity lists for anaphora resolution in Portuguese and French corpora. We applied an automatic lexical acquisition technique over parsed texts to identify semantically similar words. We then made use of this lexical knowledge to resolve coreferential definite descriptions where the head noun of the anaphor is different from the head noun of its antecedent, which we call indirect anaphora. We compare the results in both languages with a baseline algorithm. Our proposed technique achieved an Fmeasure of 0.26 for Portuguese and 0.09 for French.

What inspired me to become a psychotherapist

Abstract: Six answers are given to the question of why I really became a psychotherapist. Of the six answers, three involve what may be considered inspirational influences: the inspirational benefits of what psychotherapy can offer, inspirational teachers, and inspirational practitioners.

Salience, Inference and Plural Anaphora

Abstract: In this paper, I argue that the DRT Construction Rules for plural antecedents are redundant, because they are subsumed by an inference mechanism that must be made generally available for anaphora resolution. While Kamp and Reyle originally argued against a general inference mechanism for plural anaphora, I argue that the facts of compset anaphora require inference. Furthermore, I observe that compset anaphora is blocked by refset anaphora. I consider an alternative DRT account, in which inference coexists with Construction Rules. I argue that the Construction Rules are not necessary to capture the blocking generalization; rather, I argue that refset descriptions are semantically primed, thus deriving the blocking generalization in terms of general inference, together with an independently required mechanism of semantic priming. I argue that this alternative is to be preferred on grounds of theoretical parsimony. Furthermore, I present an argument that the general inference account correctly captures the fact that plural descriptions can be interpreted at the position of the plural pronoun, while the DRT account incorrectly requires that they be interpreted at the position of the antecedent.

중국어 동사 전 목적명사구 및 수동형태소 명사구의 예외적 양태와 그 함축의미

Abstract: It is a well-known linguistic fact that in general, only a subject can serve as an antecedent and a blocker in the case of Chinese monomorphemic...

Anaphoric Inference in Expository Text: The Effects of Anaphora Type, Mention Order and Typicality of Antecedent

Abstract: Anaphoric Inference in Expository Text: The Effects of Anaphora Type, Mention Order and Typicality of Antecedent Jae-Ho Lee (leejaeho@kmu.ac.kr) Department of Psychology, Keimyung University 1000 Sindang-Dong Dalseo-Ku, Daegu, Korea pronoun have strong effect for antecedent access. This also suggested that a singular pronoun was more sensitive in text contexts rather than a plural pronoun. Introduction Anaphora has an important function in text comprehension. The processes of anaphoric inference are to make local coherence among sentences. The coherence constructed from several variables (e.g. Lee, 1993). The first variable is an anaphora type: noun phrase, pronoun or ellipsis. Another variable is the properties of antecedents: syntactic, semantic, or pragmatic. Yet another variable is discourse contexts such as a topic, theme, or implicit reader’s knowledge. The main purpose of this study is to investigate how these variables contribute to anaphoric inference differentially in expository texts. Figure 2: Mean Recognition Time in Exp. 2 (ms) Typical Atypical Pronoun ------------------------ Type First Second First Second Plural Singular General Discussion This study suggested that an anaphora type have a different function for anaphoric inference. A noun phrase presented for not focused antecedent or for new topic. If the noun phrase occurred in text, the noun phrase enhanced an activation level of antecedent. In pronoun, the previous activation level will be maintained (e.g. Gernsbacher, 1989). But two type of pronoun differed: A singular pronoun was more influenced by a focus or saliency of antecedents than a plural pronoun. The constraints dynamically coordinate for an optimal coherence in anaphoric inference (Kim, Lee, & Gernsbacher, 2004). And the coherence seems to be constructed gradually(e.g. Sanford & Garrod, 1989). Experiment 1: Noun Phrase vs. Pronoun Experiment 1 explored the effect of anaphora type with antecedent mention order and antecedent typicality. The interaction of anaphora type and mention order of antecedents expected. 67 undergraduate students are participating in the experiment. The results showed that the antecedents of the noun phrase were faster than that of the pronoun. The variables of the mention order and antecedent typicality more influenced to pronoun than noun phrase (see Figure 1). Experiment 1 showed that two types of anaphor have a very different processing mechanism in anaphoric inference. Acknowledgments Authors Note: I thank Soyoung Suh-Kim for many helpful discussions and comments on a draft of this article. Figure 1: Mean Recognition Time in Exp. 1 (ms) Typical Atypical Anaphoric ------------------------ Type First Second First Second Noun Phrase 684 Pronoun References Gernsbacher, M. A. (1989). Mechanisms that improve referential access. Cognition, 32, 99-156. Kim, S. I., Lee, J-H., & Gernsbacher, M. A. (2004). The advantage of first mention in Korean: The temporal contributions of syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic Factors. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 33. 475- Lee, J-H. (1993). On-line processing of pronoun resolution in reading. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Korea University, Seoul. Lee, J-H. (2004). The role of syntactic cues in pronoun referential resolution: The effects of number and gender cue. The Korean Journal of Cognitive Science, 15, 27- Sanford, A. J., & Garrod, S. E. (1989). What, when, and how?: Questions of immediacy in anaphoric reference resolution. Language and Cognitive Processes, 4, 235- Experiment 2: Plural pronoun vs. Singular pronoun Experiment 2 manipulated pronoun type with antecedent typicality and antecedent mention order. The manipulation of pronoun type will provide an additional evidence for the effect of anaphora type. 67 undergraduate students are participated in Experiment 2. The main effect of pronoun type was observed. The antecedents of the singular pronoun were faster than that of the plural pronoun. This result was replicated Lee’s (2004). And the effect of mention order was more influenced in singular pronoun than in plural pronouns. The effect of the antecedent typicality did not differ between singular pronoun and plural pronoun (see Figure 2). The results suggest that a syntactic cue of

He Himself: rediscovering a non-local anaphor

Abstract: In this paper, we discuss data that were first introduced in a brief but we believe unsettled controversy in Linguistic Inquiry in the late 1980s and early 1990s that has not received much attention since. We analyze the properties of elements like he himself in English, which has to be coreferent with a non-local c-commanding antecedent, provided there is one in the sentence. We take he himself to be the result of the adjunction of himself to he at a certain point in the derivation. After presenting our analysis we discuss its theoretical implications.

The Interface of Syntax, Semantics and Psycholinguistics: An Investigation of Operator Scope

Abstract: The goal of this paper is to explore an on-line processing theory of discourse comprehension which makes use of the grammatical construct of modality. Previous investigations of discourse processing have relied upon studies using the integrative device of anaphora (Halliday and Hasan, 1976). A close examination of the kinds of discourses previously investigated reveals that the sorts of inferences required to discern the antecedent to a pronoun rely on pragmatic world knowledge only, to the exclusion of grammatical knowledge (cf., Leonard, Waters & Caplan, 1997; Hirst & Brill, 1980; among others). For example, Garrod and Sanford (1994) indicated that either Bill or his friend in the context sentence below can serve as an antecedent to he in a continuation sentence. E.g., Bill1 wanted to lend his friend2 some money. He2 was hard up and really needed it. Another possible anaphoric relation would be: However, he1 was hard up and couldn’t afford to. Assignment of co-reference in these sentences is dependent upon the sentential context. This contextual information refers to what we know about when it is appropriate to need or lend money, and who can be a possible lender. In other words, this is knowledge that is acquired with cultural experience. The question we pose here is whether we can see empirical effects of constructs that come from a different source: the grammar. A discourse processing model that also takes grammatical constructs into account has better predictive power than one that relies exclusively on experiential knowledge, due to potential cross-linguistic predictions. That is, a model which relies solely on world knowledge is bound to fail cross-linguistically, since crosscultural norms can vary tremendously. In the present study, we explored how modality constrains discourse anaphora. Roberts (1987, 1989) developed a theory of Modal Subordination, in the framework of Discourse Representation Theory (Kamp,1981; Heim,1982). Before we explain the phenomenon of how modality constrains anaphoric possibilities, let us first define mood. The mood of an utterance is an indication about the speaker’s commitment to the truth of a proposition in the actual world—that is, it tells us whether or not a proposition is asserted. Factual mood indicates that the Common Ground must be updated, since a true proposition has been added to the discourse context set (Stalnaker, 1978). On the other hand, nonfactual mood indicates that a proposition is introduced as a hypothetical notion, and subsequent propositions might rely on the assumption that the discourse continues as if that previous proposition were true. Factual mood is marked by indicative grammatical mood, whereas non-factual mood has many possible lexical sources: modal auxiliaries (e.g., would, should, can, may, etc.), modal adverbs (perhaps, possibly, maybe, etc.), non-factive propositional attitude verbs (e.g., wonder, consider, muse, etc.). We call these lexical items the class of modal operators (Heim, 1982; Asher, 1987). According to Roberts, these operators define scopal domains, which are represented in the Discourse Representation Structure as subordinate boxes. In contrast, the descriptive content of propositions uttered in factual mood is always entered at the matrix level of the DRS. Thus, factual mood does not add structure to a DRS, unlike non-factual mood. The scopal domains of modal operators thus segment a discourse structure. Roberts (1987, 1989) uses this theoretical construct to account for an observation, originally noted in Karttunen (1976), that indefinite NPs do not form felicitous antecedents to pronouns when they are contained in sentences in non-factual mood but their pronouns are in sentences that mark factual mood. E.g.,

Anaphoric Inference in Expository Text: The Effects of Anaphora Type, Mention Order and Typicality of Antecedent

Abstract: Introduction Anaphora has an important function in text comprehension The processes of anaphoric inference are to make local coherence among sentences The coherence constructed from several variables (eg Lee, 1993) The first variable is an anaphora type: noun phrase, pronoun or ellipsis Another variable is the properties of antecedents: syntactic, semantic, or pragmatic Yet another variable is discourse contexts such as a topic, theme, or implicit reader’s knowledge The main purpose of this study is to investigate how these variables contribute to anaphoric inference differentially in expository texts