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<Paper uid="P98-2204">
  <Title>Never Look Back: An Alternative to Centering</Title>
  <Section position="2" start_page="0" end_page="0" type="intro">
    <SectionTitle>
1 Introduction
</SectionTitle>
    <Paragraph position="0"> I propose a model for determining the heater's attentional state in understanding discourse. My proposal is inspired by the centering model (Grosz et al., 1983; 1995) and draws on the conclusions of Strube &amp; Hahn's (1996) approach for the ranking of the forward-looking center list for German. Their approach has been proven as the point of departure for a new model which is valid for English as well.</Paragraph>
    <Paragraph position="1"> The use of the centering transitions in Brennan et al.'s (1987) algorithm prevents it from being applied incrementally (cf. Kehler (1997)). In my approach, I propose to replace the functions of the backward-looking center and the centering transitions by the order among the elements of the list of salient discourse entities (S-list). The S-list ranking criteria define a preference for hearer-old over hearer-new discourse entities (Prince, 1981) generalizing Strube &amp; Hahn's (1996) approach. Because of these ranking criteria, I can account for the difference in salience between definite NPs (mostly hearer-old) and indefinite NPs (mostly hearer-new).</Paragraph>
    <Paragraph position="2"> The S-list is not a local data structure associated with individual utterances. The S-list rather describes the attentional state of the hearer at any given point in processing a discourse. The S-list is generated incrementally, word by word, and used immediately. Therefore, the S-list integrates in the simplest manner preferences for inter- and intra-sentential anaphora, making further specifications for processing complex sentences unnecessary.</Paragraph>
    <Paragraph position="3"> Section 2 describes the centering model as the relevant background for my proposal. In Section 3, I introduce my model, its only data structure, the S-list, and the accompanying algorithm. In Section 4, I compare the results of my algorithm with the results of the centering algorithm (Brennan et al., 1987) with and without specifications for complex sentences (Kameyama, 1998).</Paragraph>
  </Section>
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