Exam question 1 · The four tones: same sound, different meaning

Identify the principal reason for which an alteration in tone modifies the meaning of a Mandarin syllable.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, alteration · What happens: identify, modify, mean · To what, where: principal reason, meaning, Mandarin syllable

This is exam question 1 of lesson 2 «The four tones: same sound, different meaning» 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 modifies	obl
7	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 alteration	det
8	alteration	alteration	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 modifies	nsubj
9	in	in	ADP	_	10 tone	case
10	tone	tone	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 alteration	nmod
11	modifies	modify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 meaning	det
13	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 modifies	obj
14	of	of	ADP	_	17 syllable	case
15	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	17 syllable	det
16	Mandarin	mandarin	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 syllable	amod
17	syllable	syllable	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 meaning	nmod
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	modify	present	a alteration in tone	the meaning of a Mandarin syllable	for the principal reason	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent meaning=Patient
3	mean			a Mandarin syllable		nom meaning «communication transitive»: of=patient

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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

The tonal contour constitutes an integral component of the word itself

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 contour	det
2	tonal	tonal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 contour	amod
3	contour	contour	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 constitutes	nsubj
4	constitutes	constitute	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 component	det
6	integral	integral	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 component	amod
7	component	component	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 constitutes	obj
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 word	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 word	det
10	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 component	nmod
11	itself	itself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Emp Reflex=Yes	10 word	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	constitute	present	the tonal contour	a integral component of the word contour					vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme component=Pivot
2	compose			the word contour					nom component «cognition transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

Tones are employed exclusively in interrogative sentences

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Tones	tone	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 employed	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 employed	aux:pass
3	employed	employ	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	3 employed	advmod
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 sentences	case
6	interrogative	interrogative	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 sentences	compound
7	sentences	sentence	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 employed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	employ	present · passive		Tones		interrogative sentences		exclusively property	vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 3

Tonal variation merely conveys the emotional state of the speaker

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Tonal	tonal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 variation	amod
2	variation	variation	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 conveys	nsubj
3	merely	merely	ADV	_	4 conveys	advmod
4	conveys	convey	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 state	det
6	emotional	emotional	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 state	amod
7	state	state	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 conveys	obj
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 speaker	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 speaker	det
10	speaker	speaker	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 state	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	convey	present	Tonal variation	the emotional state of the speaker				merely property	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent state=Topic

Option 4

Tones are relevant solely to the written language

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Tones	tone	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 relevant	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 relevant	cop
3	relevant	relevant	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	solely	solely	ADV	_	3 relevant	advmod
5	to	to	ADP	_	8 language	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 language	det
7	written	write	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 language	amod
8	language	language	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 relevant	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Tones					to the written language; relevant, solely property	tree rules
2	write	participle							vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

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.

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