Test 10 · ★ · Clever primates: tool-using chimps, Kanzi the bonobo and A…

How could you test whether an ape really understands a word?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, ape · What happens: test, understand · To what, where: word

This is test 10 · ★ of lesson 387 «Clever primates: tool-using chimps, Kanzi the bonobo and Ayumu's memory» of the biology course of Mova's primary school. The page gives the question's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause, then the 4 options as the student saw them, each with its tree and pragmatics. Every text is parsed by Mova itself. How the student answered it, with the score of every option and why: the test at school.

The question

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	How	how	ADV	PronType=Int	4 test	advmod
2	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 test	aux
3	you	you	PRON	Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs	4 test	nsubj
4	test	test	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	whether	whether	SCONJ	_	9 understands	mark
6	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 ape	det
7	ape	ape	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 understands	nsubj
8	really	really	ADV	_	9 understands	advmod
9	understands	understand	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 test	ccomp
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 word	det
11	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 understands	obj
12	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 test	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	test	could	you						tree rules
2	understand	present	a ape	a word					vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer word=Stimulus

One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

The options

Option 1

Count how often it smiles

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Count	count	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	how	how	ADV	PronType=Int	3 often	advmod
3	often	often	ADV	_	5 smiles	advmod
4	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 smiles	nsubj
5	smiles	smile	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Count	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	count	imperative	you not said here						vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP to be ADJ»: agent=Agent clause=Attribute
2	smile	present	it					often property	vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Have someone who does not know the answer ask in new situations

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Have	have	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	someone	someone	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	9 ask	nsubj
3	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 know	nsubj
4	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 know	aux
5	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	6 know	advmod
6	know	know	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 someone	acl:relcl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 answer	det
8	answer	answer	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 know	obj
9	ask	ask	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Have	parataxis
10	in	in	ADP	_	12 situations	case
11	new	new	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 situations	amod
12	situations	situation	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 ask	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	have	imperative	you not said here			vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	not know	present · do-support		the answer		vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer answer=Stimulus
3	ask speech: ask	present	someone		new situations	vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

Ask the ape's own keeper what it means, since the keeper knows the ape best

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Ask	ask	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 ape	det
3	ape	ape	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 keeper	nmod:poss
4	's	's	PART	_	3 ape	case
5	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 keeper	amod
6	keeper	keeper	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ask	obj
7	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	9 means	obj
8	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 means	nsubj
9	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 keeper	acl:relcl
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 knows	punct
11	since	since	SCONJ	_	14 knows	mark
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 keeper	det
13	keeper	keeper	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 knows	nsubj
14	knows	know	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Ask	conj
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 ape	det
16	ape	ape	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 knows	obj
17	best	good	ADJ	Degree=Sup	16 ape	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	ask speech: ask	imperative	you not said here	the ape's own keeper	vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent keeper=Recipient
2	mean	present	keeper	the ape's own keeper	vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Topic
3	know	present	the keeper	the ape best	vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer ape=Stimulus

Option 4

Show it the answer first

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Show	show	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	1 Show	obj
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 answer	det
4	answer	answer	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Show	obj
5	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	1 Show	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	show	imperative	you not said here	it				first property	vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent it=Recipient answer=Topic

Text: the tests of Mova's primary school, written for Mova (world/data/school/), as the course runner gave them to the student. Trees: Mova's own parse — the en model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. Frames: Mova's frames reader (prag), each text read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/387-clever-primates-tool-using-chimps-kanzi-the-bonobo-and-ayumu-s-memory/t10/