---
title: "Co-Interpretation Network in English Discourse — Ni 1998"
description: "Ni offers a finer taxonomy instead. 14 references. Among them: 0."
authors: ["Yibin Ni"]
year: 1998
venue: "Proceedings of the 12th Pacific Asia Conference on Language, Information and Computation"
source: "https://aclanthology.org/Y98-1013/"
doi: "http://hdl.handle.net/2065/12073"
licence: "CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 (ACL Anthology, before 2016)"
licence_url: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/"
summary_licence: "Elamur Cosmic License"
canonical: "https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/ni-1998-co-interpretation-network-english-discourse/"
---
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# Co-Interpretation Network in English Discourse

**Authors:** Yibin Ni · **Year:** 1998 · **Venue:** [Proceedings of the 12th Pacific Asia Conference on Language, Information and Computation](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/venues/paclic/) ([PACLIC 1998](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/venues/paclic/1998/)) · **Publisher:** [Chinese and Oriental Languages Information Processing Society](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/publishers/chinese-and-oriental-languages-information-processing-society/) · **Licence:** [CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 (ACL Anthology, before 2016)](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/)

**Links:** [Publisher's page](https://aclanthology.org/Y98-1013/) · [PDF](https://aclanthology.org/Y98-1013.pdf) · [DOI http://hdl.handle.net/2065/12073](https://doi.org/http://hdl.handle.net/2065/12073) · [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/W2171847558)

**Citations:** 0 citations (OpenAlex, 2026-10-14)

## Summary
The paper argues that the cohesion framework of Halliday & Hasan (1976) is too coarse to guide computer annotation of noun-phrase relations in English. Existing tagging schemes by Fligelstone, Garside and colleagues still rest on that framework. Ni offers a finer taxonomy instead. Each noun phrase in a discourse is either an introductory expression, which can anchor a network, or a dependent expression, which draws its referent or its descriptive content from that anchor.

The paper separates two relations:
- **co-reference:** both expressions point to the same entity.
- **co-interpretation:** the dependent reuses a concept but picks out a different instance, as when a plural pronoun follows a singular indefinite.

These relations are crossed with direction (anaphoric or cataphoric) and with the form of the expressions (pronoun, definite NP, proper name, demonstrative). The analysis is qualitative. It is illustrated with newspaper and fiction excerpts and with data from the Survey Corpus and ICE-GB. No automatic system or numerical evaluation is reported. The intended contribution is a theoretical basis for future discourse-tagging schemes.

## Key points
- Three main co-reference patterns are distinguished:
  - personal pronoun co-reference;
  - definite determiner co-reference, which covers repeating the same NP or using a contextually synonymous or hypernymous NP, such as a swallow followed by the bird;
  - repeated proper names.
- Direction constraints are marked explicitly. Cataphora is excluded for same-NP repetition and for repeated proper names. It remains possible for pronouns, as in Ten weeks before he died… Mr Biswas, and for definite-to-name links.
- Demonstratives (this/that/these/those) are classified on three dimensions:
  - anaphoric vs cataphoric;
  - head vs determiner use;
  - nominal antecedent vs "discoursal antecedent".

  The discoursal case is Ni's replacement for Quirk et al.'s "sentential antecedent", because the referent can span more than a clause. Several cells of this grid are recorded as having no examples found.
- The data sources are SEU (Survey Corpus, UCL, spoken part) and ICE-GB. ICE-GB has 200 written and 300 spoken texts of about 2,000 words each, with labels like W1B-001.
- Antecedent search normally relies on proximity plus agreement in gender, number and person. Ambiguous candidates, such as shops and supplies competing for they, require inference from world knowledge and from the text.

## Interesting ideas
- Distinguishing co-reference (same entity) from co-interpretation (same concept, different instance) keeps a plural "they" after "a sitting hen" from being forced into the same chain as its antecedent.
- A pronoun can take a negated quantifier antecedent ("no concept or term … it"), in which case it ranges over potential class members rather than an actual referent.
- The paper records each relation as a cell in a grid of form pairs by direction, explicitly marking impossible cells (repetition cataphora) and unattested ones.
- A demonstrative may point to a stretch of discourse rather than to a noun phrase (the "discoursal antecedent").
- Writers delay a cataphoric antecedent deliberately to create suspense, so a pronoun introduced first must stay open until its anchor appears.

## For Mova

How these ideas could serve Mova, our small open language model — its files, stages and tests:

- **I1** (frames): coreference output could carry a link-type label (identity vs concept-reuse), so frames bind roles to a class rather than to a wrongly merged individual.
- **I2** (world): the world builder should not create an entity for such chains; it should record a hypothetical or class-level referent, so later answers do not assert that the thing exists.
- **I3** (learn): the grid can serve as negative controls, flagging any silver or parser output that proposes a cataphoric proper-name repetition link as a likely error.
- **I4** (world): "this/that" should be allowed to resolve to an event or proposition node in the world of the text, not only to entities.
- **I5** (answer): readers of fables and news-like texts should keep unresolved forward pronouns pending rather than guessing early, and should explain the later resolution.

*Our summary of the paper, in our own words — not its text. The work belongs to its authors; read it at the links above.*

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## Cite

Cite as: Yibin Ni. 1998. Co-Interpretation Network in English Discourse. Proceedings of the 12th Pacific Asia Conference on Language, Information and Computation.

The paper itself, not this page. BibTeX from the library's record of the work.

```bibtex
@inproceedings{ni1998co,
  title = {{Co-Interpretation Network in English Discourse}},
  author = {Yibin Ni},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the 12th Pacific Asia Conference on Language, Information and Computation},
  year = {1998},
  doi = {http://hdl.handle.net/2065/12073},
  url = {https://doi.org/http://hdl.handle.net/2065/12073}
}
```

- [← previous As it ys seyde to fore'. Some Linguistic Evidence in the Process of Compiling Middle English Medical Recipes](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/almeida-2019-ys-seyde-fore-some-linguistic/)
- [next → Compound Nouns in the Old English Period: Ælfric's Lives of Saints. Functional and Pragmatic Approaches](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/moneva-2019-compound-nouns-old-english-period/)
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## References

14 references, 0 of them with a card of ours. ↗ leads to the work, «find» searches for one we have no id for yet.

1. Asher, R E. ed. (1994) The encyclopedia of language and linguistics, Oxford: Pergamon Press [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Asher%2C+R+E%2E+ed%2E+%281994%29+The+encyclopedia+of+language+and+linguistics%2C+Oxford%3A+Pergamon+Press)
2. Brown, Gillian & G. Yule (1983) Discourse analysis, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Brown%2C+Gillian+%26+G%2E+Yule+%281983%29+Discourse+analysis%2C+Cambridge%3A+Cambridge+University+Press)
3. COBUILD on CD-ROM (1994) HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=COBUILD+on+CD%2DROM+%281994%29+HarperCollins+Publishers+Ltd%2E)
4. Fligelstone, Steve (1992) 'Developing a scheme for annotating text to show anaphoric relations', in Ldtner ed. 1992, pp. 153 - 70 [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Fligelstone%2C+Steve+%281992%29+%27Developing+a+scheme+for+annotating+text+to+show+anaphoric+relations%27%2C+in+Ldtner+ed%2E+1992%2C+pp%2E+153+%2D+70)
5. Garside, R. (1993) 'The marking of cohesive relationships: tools fir the construction of a large bank of anaphoric data', ICANE Journal 17, pp. 5 -27 [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Garside%2C+R%2E+%281993%29+%27The+marking+of+cohesive+relationships%3A+tools+fir+the+construction+of+a+large+bank+of+anaphoric+data%27%2C+ICANE+Journal+17%2C+pp%2E+5+%2D27)
6. Garside, R, Steve Fligelstone & Simon Botley (1997) Discourse annotation: anaphoric relations in corpora', in Garside et al. eds. 1997, pp. 66 - 84 [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Garside%2C+R%2C+Steve+Fligelstone+%26+Simon+Botley+%281997%29+Discourse+annotation%3A+anaphoric+relations+in+corpora%27%2C+in+Garside+et+al%2E+eds%2E+1997%2C+pp%2E+66+%2D+84)
7. Garside, R, G. N. Leech, & A. McEnery eds. (1997) Corpus Annotation: Linguistic Information From Computer Text Corpora, London: Longman [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Garside%2C+R%2C+G%2E+N%2E+Leech%2C+%26+A%2E+McEnery+eds%2E+%281997%29+Corpus+Annotation%3A+Linguistic+Information+From+Computer+Text+Corpora%2C+London%3A+Longman)
8. Halliday, M. A. K. & R. Hasan (1976) Cohesion in English, London: Longman [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Halliday%2C+M%2E+A%2E+K%2E+%26+R%2E+Hasan+%281976%29+Cohesion+in+English%2C+London%3A+Longman)
9. Leech, Geoffrey N. & M. H. Short (1981) Style in fiction, London: Longman [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Leech%2C+Geoffrey+N%2E+%26+M%2E+H%2E+Short+%281981%29+Style+in+fiction%2C+London%3A+Longman)
10. Leitner, G. ed. (1992) New directions in English Language corpora, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Leitner%2C+G%2E+ed%2E+%281992%29+New+directions+in+English+Language+corpora%2C+Berlin%3A+Mouton+de+Gruyter)
11. Martin, James R. (1992) English text: system and structure, Amsterdam: Benjamins [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Martin%2C+James+R%2E+%281992%29+English+text%3A+system+and+structure%2C+Amsterdam%3A+Benjamins)
12. Ni, Yibin (1996) The Interpretation of English Noun Phrases with Particular Regard to Generic Reference, Ph.D. dissertation, University College London [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Ni%2C+Yibin+%281996%29+The+Interpretation+of+English+Noun+Phrases+with+Particular+Regard+to+Generic+Reference%2C+Ph%2ED%2E+dissertation%2C+University+College+London)
13. Quirk, R, S. Greenbaum, G. Leech & J. Svartvik (1985) A comprehensive grammar of the English language, London: Longman [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Quirk%2C+R%2C+S%2E+Greenbaum%2C+G%2E+Leech+%26+J%2E+Svartvik+%281985%29+A+comprehensive+grammar+of+the+English+language%2C+London%3A+Longman)
14. Sells, P. & T. Wasow (1994) 'Anaphora', in Asher ed. 1994, 116 —122 Wales, Katie (1987) Dictionary of Stylistics, London: Longman 17. - [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Sells%2C+P%2E+%26+T%2E+Wasow+%281994%29+%27Anaphora%27%2C+in+Asher+ed%2E+1994%2C+116+%E2%80%94122+Wales%2C+Katie+%281987%29+Dictionary+of+Stylistics%2C+London%3A+Longman+17%2E+%2D)

*Updated 2 November 2026*