| Preface | 6 |
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| Acknowledgements | 8 |
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| Contents | 10 |
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| Introduction | 18 |
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| 1 Pragmatic Inferences | 24 |
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| 1.1 Semantic Underspecification and Pragmatic Enrichment | 24 |
| 1.1.1 Underspecified Semantics | 25 |
| 1.1.2 Accounts of Pragmatic Inference | 29 |
| 1.1.2.1 Conversational Implicatures | 30 |
| 1.1.2.2 Generalized Conversational Implicatures | 33 |
| 1.1.2.3 Explicatures | 35 |
| 1.1.2.4 Primary and Secondary Pragmatic Processes | 36 |
| 1.1.2.5 Abductive Inferences | 37 |
| 1.1.2.6 Conclusion | 38 |
| 1.1.3 Properties of Pragmatic Inferences | 39 |
| 1.2 Formal Approaches to Defeasible Reasoning | 42 |
| 1.2.1 Default Logic | 44 |
| 1.2.2 Circumscription | 49 |
| 1.2.3 Commonsense Entailment | 52 |
| 1.2.4 Abductive Reasoning | 54 |
| 1.2.5 Conclusion | 58 |
| 1.3 Pragmatic Inferences Beyond the Sentence Level | 60 |
| 1.3.1 Text and Discourse | 60 |
| 1.3.2 Cohesion | 62 |
| 1.3.3 Coherence | 65 |
| 1.3.3.1 An Intentional View on Discourse Coherence | 67 |
| 1.3.3.2 An Informational View on Discourse Coherence | 68 |
| 1.3.4 Looking Ahead | 69 |
| 2 The Common Ground and Intentions in Conversations | 74 |
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| 2.1 The Common Ground | 74 |
| 2.1.1 Definitions of Shared Knowledge | 74 |
| 2.1.2 The Use of the Common Ground in Conversation | 79 |
| 2.1.2.1 Evidence from Language Production | 79 |
| 2.1.2.2 Evidence from Language Comprehension | 80 |
| 2.1.2.3 Discussion and Conclusion | 81 |
| 2.1.3 Establishing the Common Ground | 82 |
| 2.1.3.1 Accumulation | 83 |
| 2.1.3.2 Grounding | 83 |
| 2.1.3.3 Structuring the Common Ground | 86 |
| 2.1.4 Conclusion | 87 |
| 2.2 Modelling Intentions in Discourses | 89 |
| 2.2.1 Optimality Theory for Discourse Pragmatics | 90 |
| 2.2.2 Linguistic Communication as a Game | 93 |
| 2.2.3 Conclusion | 95 |
| 3 The Discourse Model and Discourse Anaphora | 96 |
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| 3.1 Discourse Anaphora | 97 |
| 3.1.1 Types and Distribution of Anaphoric Expressions | 97 |
| 3.1.2 Syntactic and Semantic Notions of Anaphora | 101 |
| 3.2 The Discourse Model | 105 |
| 3.2.1 Conceptions of Discourse Models | 105 |
| 3.2.2 Requirements on Discourse Models | 109 |
| 3.3 Discourse Referents | 111 |
| 3.3.1 Introducing Discourse Referents in the Discourse Model | 111 |
| 3.3.2 Accessing Discourse Referents as Antecedents for Anaphora | 113 |
| 3.3.2.1 Familiarity | 113 |
| 3.3.2.2 Givenness | 114 |
| 3.3.2.3 Accessibility | 115 |
| 3.3.2.4 Salience | 117 |
| 3.3.2.5 Activation | 118 |
| 3.3.3 Conclusion | 120 |
| 3.4 Theories of Anaphora Resolution | 120 |
| 3.4.1 A Pragmatic Account | 121 |
| 3.4.2 Computational Accounts | 125 |
| 3.4.2.1 Focus Theory | 125 |
| 3.4.2.2 Centering Theory | 126 |
| 3.4.3 Dynamic Semantics and Discourse Representation Theory | 131 |
| 3.4.3.1 Context as Index | 132 |
| 3.4.3.2 Dynamic Semantics | 133 |
| 3.4.3.3 Discourse Representation Theory | 134 |
| 3.4.3.4 Anaphora in DRT | 139 |
| 3.4.3.5 Discussion | 141 |
| 3.4.4 Conclusion | 142 |
| 4 Discourse Structure | 144 |
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| 4.1 Characteristics of Discourse Structure | 145 |
| 4.1.1 Discourse Segments: Basic Structural Units | 145 |
| 4.1.2 Connecting Discourse Segments | 146 |
| 4.1.2.1 Discourse Markers | 146 |
| 4.1.2.2 Discourse Relations | 147 |
| 4.1.3 The Form of Discourse Structure | 148 |
| 4.1.3.1 Sequences | 148 |
| 4.1.3.2 Stacks | 149 |
| 4.1.3.3 Trees | 150 |
| 4.1.3.4 Graphs | 154 |
| 4.1.4 Conclusion | 157 |
| 4.2 Discourse Relations | 158 |
| 4.2.1 Hobbs’ Coherence Relations | 159 |
| 4.2.2 Kehler’s Three Types of Coherence | 160 |
| 4.2.2.1 Coherence Relations: Cause-Effect | 160 |
| 4.2.2.2 Coherence Relations: Resemblance | 161 |
| 4.2.2.3 Coherence Relations: Contiguity | 163 |
| 4.2.2.4 Linguistic Phenomena Explained by Kehler’s Taxonomy | 164 |
| 4.2.2.5 Problems with Kehler’s Theory | 168 |
| 4.2.3 Rhetorical Structure Theory | 170 |
| 4.2.4 Rhetorical Relations in SDRT | 176 |
| 4.2.5 Conclusion | 182 |
| 4.3 Discourse Topic | 182 |
| 4.3.1 Discourse Topic as Entity | 184 |
| 4.3.2 Discourse Topic as Proposition | 184 |
| 4.3.3 Discourse Topic as Question | 188 |
| 4.3.3.1 Contrastive Sentence Topics | 188 |
| 4.3.3.2 Topic-Comment Structures for Discourses | 190 |
| 4.3.3.3 Quaestio Theory | 192 |
| 4.3.3.4 Questions Under Discussion | 194 |
| 4.3.4 Conclusion | 195 |
| 5 Discourse Interpretation | 198 |
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| 5.1 Discourse Interpretation as Abduction | 198 |
| 5.1.1 Flat Logical Forms | 199 |
| 5.1.2 Weighted Abduction | 200 |
| 5.1.3 Local Pragmatic Interpretation | 203 |
| 5.1.4 Abduction in Structured Discourses | 204 |
| 5.1.5 Conclusion | 208 |
| 5.2 Minimal Model Generation | 210 |
| 5.2.1 Herbrand Models for First-Order Languages | 210 |
| 5.2.2 Generation of Discourse Models | 212 |
| 5.2.3 Minimality of Models | 215 |
| 5.2.4 Minimal Models and Discourse Anaphora | 217 |
| 5.2.4.1 Resolving Pronouns by Model Generation | 217 |
| 5.2.4.2 Equality by Default | 220 |
| 5.2.5 Conclusion | 223 |
| 5.3 Segmented Discourse Representation Theory | 224 |
| 5.3.1 Representing Discourse Structures | 225 |
| 5.3.2 Constructing Discourse Structures | 228 |
| 5.3.2.1 The Logic of Underspecified Information Content | 228 |
| 5.3.2.2 The Glue Logic | 229 |
| 5.3.2.3 Discourse Update | 233 |
| 5.3.2.4 Constraining Attachment | 234 |
| 5.3.2.5 Maximize Discourse Coherence | 236 |
| 5.3.3 Conclusion | 237 |
| 6 Bridging Inferences | 240 |
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| 6.1 Bridging Anaphora | 240 |
| 6.1.1 A Preliminary Classification | 241 |
