Binding Classes and Search Optimisation in Anaphor Resolution Ant—nio Branco.pdfVIP

Binding Classes and Search Optimisation in Anaphor Resolution António Branco University of Lisbon Faculdade de Ciências de Lisboa, Dep. de Informática, Campo Grande, 1700 Lisboa, Portugal www.di.fc.ul.pt/~ahb Abstract In this paper we study binding constraints under the perspective of their cognitively grounded justification. After delimiting the mainstream rationale and primitives of cognition-driven approaches to anaphora and anaphor resolution, we analyze the reasons why this rationale does not lead to a principled account of the binding constraints. More crucially, we discuss in which sense this negative result casts doubts on the empirical support of this rationale itself. Finally, we discuss how recent results on the underlying quantificational nature of binding constraints point towards an alternative rationale for a cognitively grounded explanation of binding facts. 1. Introduction 2. Search in a prominence scale Cognition-driven approaches to anaphor resolution Research on reference processing and anaphor tend to envisage this phenomenon as a case where a resolution gave rise to a significant volume of work and 1 “divide to conquer” processing strategy is adopted: The results in the literature. Like in the case of other lin