Exam question 4 · Hello and goodbye: the first words at the gate

Ascertain the phonetic phenomenon whereby the greeting nǐ hǎo is realised as ní hǎo in speech.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, realise · To what, where: phonetic phenomenon, greeting, speech

This is exam question 4 of lesson 1 «Hello and goodbye: the first words at the gate» of the Chinese street course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 phenomenon	det
3	phonetic	phonetic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 phenomenon	amod
4	phenomenon	phenomenon	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
5	whereby	whereby	ADV	PronType=Int	11 realised	advmod
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 greeting	det
7	greeting	greeting	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 realised	nsubj:pass
8	nǐ	nǐ	X	_	7 greeting	appos
9	hǎo	hǎo	X	Foreign=Yes	8 nǐ	flat
10	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 realised	aux:pass
11	realised	realise	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Ascertain	advcl
12	as	as	ADP	_	13 ní	case
13	ní	ní	X	Foreign=Yes	11 realised	obl
14	hǎo	hǎo	X	Foreign=Yes	13 ní	flat:foreign
15	in	in	ADP	_	16 speech	case
16	speech	speech	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 realised	obl
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the phonetic phenomenon					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent phenomenon=Topic
2	realise	present · passive		the greeting		speech		as ní; whereby property	tree rules

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 · ✓ the right answer

A dipping tone preceding another dipping tone is pronounced as a rising tone

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 tone	det
2	dipping	dip	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 tone	amod
3	tone	tone	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 pronounced	nsubj:pass
4	preceding	precede	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 tone	acl
5	another	another	DET	PronType=Ind	7 tone	det
6	dipping	dip	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 tone	amod
7	tone	tone	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 preceding	obj
8	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 pronounced	aux:pass
9	pronounced	pronounce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
10	as	as	ADP	_	13 tone	case
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 tone	det
12	rising	rise	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	13 tone	amod
13	tone	tone	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 pronounced	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	dip	gerund				vn meander-47.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	precede	gerund	a dipping tone not said here	another dipping tone		vn contiguous_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme tone=Co-Theme
3	dip	gerund				vn meander-47.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
4	pronounce	present · passive		a dipping tone	as a rising tone	vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
5	rise	gerund				vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2

The initial consonant is invariably omitted

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 consonant	det
2	initial	initial	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 consonant	amod
3	consonant	consonant	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 omitted	nsubj:pass
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 omitted	aux:pass
5	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	6 omitted	advmod
6	omitted	omit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	omit	present · passive		the initial consonant				invariably property	vn exclude-107.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 3

The second syllable is rendered in the neutral tone

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 syllable	det
2	second	second	ADJ	Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	3 syllable	amod
3	syllable	syllable	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 rendered	nsubj:pass
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 rendered	aux:pass
5	rendered	render	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	in	in	ADP	_	9 tone	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 tone	det
8	neutral	neutral	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 tone	amod
9	tone	tone	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 rendered	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	render	present · passive		the second syllable		the neutral tone			vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

Interrogative intonation is applied to every greeting

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Interrogative	interrogative	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 intonation	amod
2	intonation	intonation	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 applied	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 applied	aux:pass
4	applied	apply	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	to	to	ADP	_	7 greeting	case
6	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	7 greeting	det
7	greeting	greeting	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 applied	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	apply	present · passive		Interrogative intonation				to every greeting	vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

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/chinese-street/1-hello-and-goodbye-at-the-gate/e4/