Rational Coordinated Anaphora Theory

Abstract

Rational Coordinated Anaphora theory is a novel explanatory theory that predicts how speakers generate anaphoric referring expressions in discourse, how hearers interpret them, and how all conversational participants coordinate their strategies to promote clear communication while minimizing effort. Its main premise is that conversational participants are, and expect each other to be rational. This paper presents Rational Coordinated Anaphora theory in detail and then contrasts it with Centering theory, demonstrating the reason for the robustness of Centering theory's main premise, Rule 1, and explaining some of Centering theory's previously puzzling limitations.