Fragments with a partial source do not have a full linguistic source
to which they are structurally identical, but they usually ask for the
value of a property for some entity in the focus of attention. The
resolution of these fragments is then achieved by querying the
knowledge-base about the relation between the antecedent and the
property denoted by the fragment.

In this talk I will present a discourse module for a database QA
system. Within this module, two models for the resolution of fragments
with a partial source have been implemented: a hybrid one and a
connectionist one. The hybrid model combines spreading activation over
a network of associations with inferences about the structure of the
domain. In the connectionist model spreading activation takes place
over a network which contains both associative and domain knowledge
and the resolution is achieved by chunk retrieval.