Redefining SRL
SRL presupposes that sentences contain predicates, which is often a false assumption. Analyzing a sentence cannot be based on a predicate analysis alone.
A predicate contains a verb. The predicate tells us more about the subject. The following predicate contains a verb and additional information:
The dog ate his food quickly.
ate...quickly tells us more about the way the dog ate. However, a verb alone can be a predicate, as in Dogs eat.
The problem here resides in the fact that “verbs” and “predicates” are part of syntax and grammar analysis, not semantics.
Understanding how words fit together from a grammatical, functional point of view is restrictive.
Take this sentence that means absolutely nothing:
Globydisshing maccaked up all the tie.
However, SRL could perform “semantic” analysis on a sentence that means nothing:
Figure 12.6: Analyzing a meaningless sentence
We can draw some...
