Centering in Italian

This paper explores the correlation between centering and different forms of pronominal reference in Italian, in particular zeros and overt pronouns in subject position. Such correlations, that I had proposed in earlier work (COLING 90), are verified through the analysis of a corpus of naturally occurring texts. In the process, I extend my previous analysis in several ways, for example by taking possessives and subordinates into account. I also provide a more detailed analysis of the "continue" transition: more specifically, I show that pronouns are used in a markedly different way in a "continue" preceded by another "continue" or by a "shift", and in a "continue" preceded by a "retain".