Generating coherent references to multiple entities

work contained in this document has been submitted in support of an application for a degree or qualification of this or any other university or other institution of learning. All verbatim extracts have been distinguished by quotation marks, and all sources of information have been specifically acknowledged. Signed: Date: 2007 What constitutes an adequate reference to a set of objects? Despite intensive research on the Generation of Referring Expressions (GRE), many GRE algorithms either lack empirical backing, or are motivated by concerns which arguably shift their focus away from the crucial problem, which is to generate natural descriptions, much as a person would generate them in a comparable situation. This problem becomes much more pronounced in the case of plural reference, where even psycholinguistic research is lacking. This thesis focuses on the generation of plurals, with particular attention to the semantic heart of the problem, that is, content determination. The empirical and computational work addresse