The resolution of silence: Towards an Attention-Coherenceapproach to Mandarin pronoun resolution

Abstract

Mandarin Chinese is characterized as a pro-drop language (Huang 1984), whereby overt pronouns can be omitted without rendering the sentences ungrammatical. While the syntactic category of a missing subject argument in Mandarin has generally been considered as a pro/PRO (Huang 1984; inter alia), its semantics has rarely been examined. Taking steps in filling this gap, this paper motivates a new generalization: the presence of Mandarin null pronouns requires the coherence relation NARRATION to be established. I derive this generalization based on an independently motivated assumption in Segmented Discourse Representation Theory (Asher & Lascarides 2003) and on how topic chains are formed in Mandarin
discourse. Key to my analysis is a formalization of Zeevat’s (2004) protagonist-like topic, using tools from Attention-Coherence approach (Stojnic´ 2021) and Centering Theory (Grosz & Sidner 1986).