Grosz, BarbaraJoshi, AravindWeinstein, Scott2009-02-051995Grosz, Barbara J., Aravind K. Joshi, and Scott Weinstein. 1995. Centering: A framework for modeling the local coherence of discourse. Computational Linguistics 21 (2): 203-225.0891-2017http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:2562369This paper concerns relationships among focus of attention, choice of referring expression, and perceived coherence of utterances within a discourse segment. It presents a framework and initial theory of centering intended to model the local component of attentional state. The paper examines interactions between local coherence and choice of referring expressions; it argues that differences in coherence correspond in part to the inference demands made by different types of referring expressions, given a particular attentional state. It demonstrates that the attentional state properties modeled by centering can account for these differences.