Annotating Nonlocal Dependencies

Nonlocal dependencies are dependencies from one clause into another. They do not exist as syntactic dependencies in (basic) UD, so for Superframes annotation, we add them when needed. We have already seen nonlocal dependencies in the previous chapter with attributive adjectives, adverbs, and relative clauses: these elements are attached to their head using the META frame (manifesting as a SCENE modifying relation), and then a nonlocal dependency (a “backlink”) is added from the modifying element back to its head.

There are a number of other constructions that systematically introduce nonlocal dependencies, which we also annotate. We give examples of each in the following.

Subject control:

Object control:

Non-obligatory control:

Non-obligatory control with parasitic gap:

Raising:

Secondary predicate (see also the section on secondary predicates below):

Tough construction:

Relative clause:

Reduced relative clause:

Non-finite reduced relative clause:

Relative clause with complex extracted element:

Relative clause with extraction across clause boundaries:

Coordination:

Secondary Predicates

Secondary predicates are modifiers that syntactically attach to a (primary) predicate, but semantically predicate over one of the primary predicate’s arguments, or even something more deeply embedded. The semantic relation between the primary and the secondary predicate can be one of simple accompaniment (these secondary predicates are also called depictives), effect (these secondary predicates are also called resultatives), or something else.

Note that in the resultative example You’re talking me silly, the primary predicate talking does not assign a role to its syntactic object me, only the secondary predicate silly does. But the annotation scheme still forces us to label the dependency from talking to me. We solve this by labeling it EFFECT-INIT too, just like the dependency to the secondary predicate.