Locating topics in text processing

In this paper we are concerned with the location of topics in text processing and the determination of the update unit in looking up topic continuations and topic shifts. Using key elements of the Centering Model of local discourse coherence and empirical evidence from Modern Greek and Japanese we argue that the appropriate update unit for topic tracking is the sentence in its traditional sense and not the nite clause, thus providing an account for the status of the subordinate clause in the calculation of topic transitions. We bring forth an argument from English, Modern Greek (MG) and Japanese for keeping topic and information structure distinct. We brie y discuss the signi cance of the current work to automated essay scoring and coreference-based summarization systems.