Test 7 · ★★ · The four tones: same sound, different meaning

«ugh, tones are just accent, nobody cares» Which is right?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: tones, nobody · What happens: be, care · To what, where: accent

This is test 7 · ★★ of lesson 2 «The four tones: same sound, different meaning» of the Chinese street 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	«	«	PUNCT	_	7 accent	punct
2	ugh	ugh	INTJ	_	4 tones	discourse
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	2 ugh	punct
4	tones	tone	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 accent	nsubj
5	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 accent	cop
6	just	just	ADV	_	7 accent	advmod
7	accent	accent	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 cares	obl
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 cares	punct
9	nobody	nobody	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Neg	10 cares	nsubj
10	cares	care	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
11	»	»	PUNCT	_	10 cares	punct
12	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	14 right	nsubj
13	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	14 right	cop
14	right	right	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 cares	ccomp
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	10 cares	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is a in a quote	present	tones	accent		tree rules
2	care in a quote	present	nobody			vn care-88.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer
3	is	present			right 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 · ← Mova's choice

Yes, only old people in the countryside use tones

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	Polarity=Pos	5 people	discourse
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	1 Yes	punct
3	only	only	ADV	_	5 people	advmod
4	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 people	amod
5	people	people	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 use	nsubj
6	in	in	ADP	_	8 countryside	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 countryside	det
8	countryside	countryside	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 people	nmod
9	use	use	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
10	tones	tone	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 use	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	use	present	old people in the countryside	tones					vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tone=Patient

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Tones change the meaning, like vowels in English

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Tones	tone	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 change	nsubj
2	change	change	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 meaning	det
4	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 change	obj
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 vowels	punct
6	like	like	ADP	_	7 vowels	case
7	vowels	vowel	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 change	obl
8	in	in	ADP	_	9 English	case
9	English	English	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 vowels	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	change	present	Tones	the meaning				like vowels in English	vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meaning=Patient

Option 3

Tones only matter in writing

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Tones	tone	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 matter	nsubj
2	only	only	ADV	_	3 matter	advmod
3	matter	matter	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 writing	case
5	writing	writing	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 matter	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	matter	present	Tones			writing			vn matter-91 «NP V»: agent=Stimulus

Option 4

Yes, tones are only for singing

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	Polarity=Pos	7 singing	discourse
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	1 Yes	punct
3	tones	tone	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 singing	nsubj
4	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 singing	aux
5	only	only	ADV	_	7 singing	advmod
6	for	for	SCONJ	_	7 singing	mark
7	singing	sing	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	sing speech: express	present · progressive	tones						vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=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/2-the-four-tones/t7/