Verb-based Semantic Modelling and Analysis of Textual Requirements

Automated machine analysis of natural language requirements poses several challenges. Complex requirements such as functional requirements and use cases are hard to parse and analyze, the language itself is un-constrained, the flow of requirements may be haphazard, and one requirement may contradict another - to name a few challenges. In this paper, we present a lightweight semantic modeling technique through natural language processing to filter requirements and create a semi-formal semantic network of requirement sentences. We employ novel techniques of classification of verbs used in requirements, semantic role labeling, discourse identification, and a few verb entailment and dependency relationships to generate a lightweight semantic network and critique the requirements. We discuss the design of the model and some early results obtained from analyzing real-life industrial requirements.