Exam question 1 · Funny French sounds: nasal vowels, the French r and u
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the pronunciation of the French word bon?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · What happens: follow, characteris, pronounce · To what, where: pronunciation, French word bon
This is exam question 1 of lesson 2 «Funny French sounds: nasal vowels, the French r and u» of the French 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 | Which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 8 characterises | nsubj |
| 2 | of | of | ADP | _ | 5 statements | case |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 statements | det |
| 4 | following | follow | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 5 statements | amod |
| 5 | statements | statement | NOUN | Number=Plur | 8 characterises | obl |
| 6 | most | most | ADV | Degree=Sup | 7 accurately | advmod |
| 7 | accurately | accurately | ADV | _ | 8 characterises | advmod |
| 8 | characterises | characteris | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 pronunciation | det |
| 10 | pronunciation | pronunciation | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 characterises | obj |
| 11 | of | of | ADP | _ | 15 bon | case |
| 12 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 15 bon | det |
| 13 | French | French | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 15 bon | amod |
| 14 | word | word | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 bon | compound |
| 15 | bon | bon | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 pronunciation | nmod |
| 16 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 8 characterises | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | follow | gerund | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||||
| 2 | characteris | present | the pronunciation of the French word bon | of the following statements; accurately property | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | pronounce | the French word bon | nom pronunciation «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 vowel is nasalised and the terminal n is not articulated as in English
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 vowel | det |
| 2 | vowel | vowel | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 nasalised | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 nasalised | aux:pass |
| 4 | nasalised | nasalise | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 5 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 11 articulated | cc |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 n | det |
| 7 | terminal | terminal | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 n | compound |
| 8 | n | n | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 articulated | nsubj:pass |
| 9 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 11 articulated | aux:pass |
| 10 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 11 articulated | advmod |
| 11 | articulated | articulate | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 4 nasalised | conj |
| 12 | as | as | ADP | _ | 14 English | case |
| 13 | in | in | ADP | _ | 14 English | case |
| 14 | English | English | PROPN | Number=Sing | 11 articulated | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | nasalise | present · passive | the vowel | tree rules | |||||
| 2 | not articulate speech: other | present · passive | the terminal n | as English | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic |
Option 2
The vowel is pronounced as in the English word "bone"
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 vowel | det |
| 2 | vowel | vowel | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 pronounced | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 pronounced | aux:pass |
| 4 | pronounced | pronounce | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 5 | as | as | ADP | _ | 9 word | case |
| 6 | in | in | ADP | _ | 9 word | case |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 word | det |
| 8 | English | English | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 9 word | amod |
| 9 | word | word | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 pronounced | obl |
| 10 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 11 bone | punct |
| 11 | bone | bone | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 word | appos |
| 12 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 11 bone | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | pronounce | present · passive | the vowel | as the English word | vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
Option 3
The terminal n is doubled and pronounced with considerable emphasis
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 n | det |
| 2 | terminal | terminal | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 n | compound |
| 3 | n | n | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 doubled | nsubj:pass |
| 4 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 doubled | aux:pass |
| 5 | doubled | double | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 6 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 7 pronounced | cc |
| 7 | pronounced | pronounce | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 5 doubled | conj |
| 8 | with | with | ADP | _ | 10 emphasis | case |
| 9 | considerable | considerable | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 10 emphasis | amod |
| 10 | emphasis | emphasis | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 pronounced | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | double | present · passive | the terminal n | vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient | |||||
| 2 | pronounce | participle | with considerable emphasis | vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP PP.manner»: agent=Agent with emphasis=Manner |
Option 4
The word is pronounced identically to the German city of Bonn
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 word | det |
| 2 | word | word | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 pronounced | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 pronounced | aux:pass |
| 4 | pronounced | pronounce | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 5 | identically | identically | ADV | _ | 4 pronounced | advmod |
| 6 | to | to | ADP | _ | 9 city | case |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 city | det |
| 8 | German | German | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 9 city | amod |
| 9 | city | city | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 pronounced | obl |
| 10 | of | of | ADP | _ | 11 Bonn | case |
| 11 | Bonn | Bonn | PROPN | Number=Sing | 9 city | nmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | pronounce | present · passive | the word | to the German city of Bonn; identically property | vn dub-29.3.2 «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/french/2-funny-french-sounds-nasal-vowels-the-french-r-and-u/e1/