Pronoun Resolution in Japanese Sentences Using Surface Expressions and Examples

In this paper, we present a method of estimating referents of demonstrative pronouns, personal pronouns, and zero pronouns in Japanese sentences using examples, surface expressions, topics and foci. Unlike conventional work which was semantic markers for semantic constraints, we used examples for semantic constraints and showed in our experiments that examples are as useful as semantic markers. We also propose many new methods for estimating referents of pronouns. For example, we use the form “X of Y” for estimating referents of demonstrative adjectives. In addition to our new methods, we used many conventional methods. As a result, experiments using these methods obtained a precision rate of 87% in estimating referents of demonstrative pronouns, personal pronouns, and zero pronouns for training sentences, and obtained a precision rate of 78% for test sentences.