--- title: "An Architecture for Anaphora Resolution — Rich 1988" description: "Rich and LuperFoy (MCC) describe the pronoun resolution component of Lucy, a prototype portable English front end for knowledge-based systems." authors: ["Elaine Rich", "Susann LuperFoy"] year: 1988 venue: "Second Conference on Applied Natural Language Processing" source: "https://aclanthology.org/A88-1003/" doi: "10.3115/974235.974239" 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/rich-1988-architecture-anaphora-resolution/" --- [Elamur Research](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/rich-1988-architecture-anaphora-resolution/) [home](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [papers](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/) / [1988](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/1988/) / An Architecture for Anaphora Resolution # An Architecture for Anaphora Resolution **Authors:** [Elaine Rich](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/elaine-rich/), Susann LuperFoy · **Year:** 1988 · **Venue:** Second Conference on Applied Natural Language Processing · **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/A88-1003/) · [PDF](https://aclanthology.org/A88-1003.pdf) · [DOI 10.3115/974235.974239](https://doi.org/10.3115/974235.974239) · [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/W1990909788) **Citations:** 85 citations (openalex-snapshot · 2026-10-14) · [26](#cited-by) in our library, of the 140884 papers whose bibliographies we read ## Summary Rich and LuperFoy (MCC) describe the pronoun resolution component of Lucy, a prototype portable English front end for knowledge-based systems. Their starting point is that many partial accounts of anaphora exist, from agreement rules to focus-based pragmatics, but none is complete. Instead of committing to one theory, they propose a blackboard-style architecture. Independent modules called constraint sources (CSs) each encode one partial theory. They share a common core discourse structure, which holds referents and the assertions about them. A central handler collects the candidate antecedents each module proposes, has the other modules score them, and settles disagreements. Early versions combined scores by simple averaging, which proved unstable. The authors replaced this with a confidence-weighted combination, so a module can effectively abstain. The paper offers no quantitative evaluation. Instead, it illustrates the system with an annotated trace of a short two-sentence discourse. The main contribution is a theory-neutral framework for testing competing accounts of anaphora inside one working resolver. The authors relate it to the critic-based scope assignment in TEAM. ## Key points - **Structure of a constraint source:** each CS bundles up to four functions: modeller, constraint poster, proposer and evaluator. Any of these may be a no-op. - **Constraint sources implemented:** recency, number, gender, animacy, disjoint reference, cataphora, global focus, semantic consistency, type and identity. - **Ordering for efficiency:** recency runs first and proposes generously, drawing on the two prior sentences plus left context. Cheap agreement filters run next to prune candidates early. - **Scoring scheme:** - Each CS returns a score from -5 to +5 and a confidence from 0 to 1. - Scores are averaged with confidence as the weight, so a confidence of 0 means no opinion. - An antecedent is asserted only if it leads the runner-up by more than δ = 0.5. - **When no candidate clearly wins:** the pronoun is left unresolved, producing a partial interpretation, or the user is asked to disambiguate. *Our summary of the paper, in our own words — not its text. The work belongs to its authors; read it at the links above.* Fields: [Linguistics & languages](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/shelves/linguistics/) Topics: [Coreference resolution](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/topics/coreference-resolution/) ## Cited by Cited by 26 papers of our library cite it (of the 140884 whose bibliographies we read); 11 of them have a page here, 15 not yet. - [Capturing Language-Specific Semantic Distinctions in Interlingua-based MT](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/barnett-1991-capturing-language-specific-semantic-distinctions/) - [A Generic Anaphora Resolution Engine for Indian Languages](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/devi-2014-generic-anaphora-resolution-engine-indian/) - [A Coreference Corpus and Resolution System for Dutch](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/hendrickx-2008-coreference-corpus-resolution-system-dutch/) - [Employing the Centering Theory in Pronoun Resolution from the Semantic Perspective](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/kong-2009-employing-centering-theory-pronoun-resolution/) - [An Algorithm for Pronominal Anaphora Resolution](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/lappin-1994-algorithm-pronominal-anaphora-resolution/) - [Anaphora Resolution in Machine Translation](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/mitkov-1995-anaphora-resolution-machine-translation/) - [Factors in anaphora resolution: they are not the only things that matter. A case study based on two different approaches](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/mitkov-1997-factors-anaphora-resolution-they-are/) - [Multilingual Robust Anaphora Resolution](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/mitkov-1998-multilingual-robust-anaphora-resolution/) - [Robust Pronoun Resolution with Limited Knowledge](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/mitkov-1998-robust-pronoun-resolution-limited-knowledge/) - [Functional Centering – Grounding Referential Coherence on Information Structure](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/strube-1999-functional-centering-grounding-referential-coherence/) - [A High-Performance Coreference Resolution System using a Constraint-based Multi-Agent Strategy](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/zhou-2004-high-performance-coreference-resolution-system/) ## Cite The paper itself, not this page. BibTeX from the library's record of the work. ```bibtex @inproceedings{rich1988architecture, title = {{An Architecture for Anaphora Resolution}}, author = {Rich, Elaine and LuperFoy, Susann}, booktitle = {Second Conference on Applied Natural Language Processing}, year = {1988}, doi = {10.3115/974235.974239}, url = {https://doi.org/10.3115/974235.974239} } ``` - [← previous A Stochastic Parts Program and Noun Phrase Parser for Unrestricted Text](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/church-1988-stochastic-parts-program-noun-phrase/) - [next → An Integrated Framework for Semantic and Pragmatic Interpretation](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/pollack-1988-integrated-framework-semantic-pragmatic-interpretation/) - [↑ back to papers of 1988](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/1988/) ## References 12 references, 1 of them with a card of ours. ↗ leads to the work, «find» searches for one we have no id for yet. 1. Brennan, S. E., M. W. Friedman, & C. J. Pollard. (1987). A Centering Approach to Pronouns. Proceedings ACL. . [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Brennan%2C+S%2E+E%2E%2C+M%2E+W%2E+Friedman%2C+%26+C%2E+J%2E+Pollard%2E+%281987%29%2E+A+Centering+Approach+to+Pronouns%2E+Proceedings+ACL%2E+%2E) [our card](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/brennan-1987-centering-approach-pronouns/) 2. Cohen, R. R. (1985). Heuristic Reasoning about Uncertainty: An Artificia/ Intelligence Approach. Boston: Pitman Advanced Publishing Program. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Cohen%2C+R%2E+R%2E+%281985%29%2E+Heuristic+Reasoning+about+Uncertainty%3A+An+Artificia%2F+Intelligence+Approach%2E+Boston%3A+Pitman+Advanced+Publishing+Program%2E) 3. Erman, L. D., P. E. London, & S. F. Fickas. (1981). The Design and an Example Use of Hearsay II1. Proc. IJCAI 7 . . 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Pronoun Hobbs, J. R. (1985). On the Coherence and Structure of Discourse (Tech. Rep.). CSLI-85-37, Kamp, H. (1981). A Theory of Truth and Semantic Representation. In J. Froenendijk, T. Janssen, & M. Stokhof (Eds.), Formal Methods in the Study of Language, Part I. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Mathemat… [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Pronoun+Hobbs%2C+J%2E+R%2E+%281985%29%2E+On+the+Coherence+and+Structure+of+Discourse+%28Tech%2E+Rep%2E%29%2E+CSLI%2D85%2D37%2C+Kamp%2C+H%2E+%281981%29%2E+A+Theory+of+Truth+and+Semantic+Representation%2E+In+J%2E+Froenendijk%2C+T%2E+Janssen%2C+%26+M%2E+S) 10. Reinhart, T. (1983). Anaphora and Semantic Interpretation. Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Reinhart%2C+T%2E+%281983%29%2E+Anaphora+and+Semantic+Interpretation%2E+Chicago%2C+Ill%2E%3A+University+of+Chicago+Press%2E) 11. Rich, E. A., J. Barnett, K. Wittenburg & D. Wroblewski. (1987). Ambiguity Procrastination. Proceedings AAA187. . 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