What does he mean?

Empirical results on the meaning of accented pronouns often conflict. This is a problem for formal semantic models. In this paper, we intend to broaden the empirical basis of two of these models. First, in a corpus study, we checked whether properties of the antecedent influence whether a pronoun is be accented. We found that pronouns with NP antecedents are more likely to be accented than those with pronominal antecedents. In a production experiment, we investigate whether accented pronouns signal topic shifts. Although this effect is present in our data, it is very weak. We conclude that a comprehensive model of pronoun accentuation will need to account for the fact that in most cases, that accent appears to be optional. In fact, most instances of accented pronouns in our data could be explained as signs of a rhetorical contrast.