Implicit Causality of Verbs on Anaphora Processing
Xiaomeng Tian, Lingyu Fu, Yang Zhao · Forum for Linguistic Studies · 2025
This paper provides a comprehensive review of research on the Implicit Causality (IC) of verbs and its role in anaphora resolution. IC refers to the inherent semantic bias in interpersonal verbs that guides readers or listeners in assigning causal responsibility, thereby influencing the interpretation of pronouns. Like in the sentence "David betrayed John because he…" , the pronoun "he" is more likely to be interpreted as referring to David, whereas in "David criticized John because he…" , "he" is more often understood as referring to John. This phenomenon has been observed in multiple languages and populations. The review focuses on several key areas: linguistic and non-linguistic factors affecting IC bias; the activation and persistence hypotheses of IC; research methodologies; the performance of different subject types in IC processing; and how large language models process IC information. Key findings and current challenges are discussed, including the need to refine the classification of IC verbs, to clarify the weight of multiple influencing factors, and to explore cross-linguistic and cross-population differences in IC processing. This study offers theoretical insights and practical implications for second language education, clinical language assessment, and AI-based natural language understanding.