Test 3 · ★ · Funny French sounds: nasal vowels, the French r and u

Ruby in Dublin says the French r is "like gargling, sure I'll choke." Is she wrong?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: Ruby, French r, r · What happens: say, gargle, choke, be · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 3 · ★ of lesson 2 «Funny French sounds: nasal vowels, the French r and u» of the French 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

Sentence 1: Ruby in Dublin says the French r is "like gargling, sure I'll choke."

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Ruby	Ruby	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 says	nsubj
2	in	in	ADP	_	3 Dublin	case
3	Dublin	Dublin	PROPN	Number=Sing	1 Ruby	nmod
4	says	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 r	det
6	French	French	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 r	amod
7	r	r	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 gargling	nsubj
8	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 gargling	aux
9	"	"	PUNCT	_	11 gargling	punct
10	like	like	SCONJ	_	11 gargling	mark
11	gargling	gargle	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 says	ccomp
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 sure	punct
13	sure	sure	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 gargling	conj
14	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	16 choke	nsubj
15	'll	will	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	16 choke	aux
16	choke	choke	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	13 sure	ccomp
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	11 gargling	punct
18	"	"	PUNCT	_	11 gargling	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	roles by
1	say speech: assert	present	Ruby in Dublin	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	gargle in a quote	present · progressive	the French r	tree rules
3	choke in a quote	future	Ruby in Dublin = ruby	vn die-42.4-1 «NP V»: agent=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.

Sentence 2: Is she wrong?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 wrong	cop
2	she	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 wrong	nsubj
3	wrong	wrong	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	?	?	PUNCT	_	3 wrong	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	r					wrong property	tree rules

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Not really: it is a soft scrape at the back, like a gentle gargle

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	2 really	advmod
2	really	really	ADV	_	8 scrape	advmod
3	:	:	PUNCT	_	2 really	punct
4	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 scrape	nsubj
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 scrape	cop
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 scrape	det
7	soft	soft	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 scrape	amod
8	scrape	scrape	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
9	at	at	ADP	_	11 back	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 back	det
11	back	back	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 scrape	nmod
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 gargle	punct
13	like	like	ADP	_	16 gargle	case
14	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 gargle	det
15	gentle	gentle	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 gargle	amod
16	gargle	gargle	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 scrape	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	it	a soft scrape and a gentle gargle		the back			tree rules

Option 2

Yes, the French r is rolled at the front, like in Spanish

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	Polarity=Pos	7 rolled	discourse
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	1 Yes	punct
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 r	det
4	French	French	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 r	amod
5	r	r	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 rolled	nsubj:pass
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 rolled	aux:pass
7	rolled	roll	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
8	at	at	ADP	_	10 front	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 front	det
10	front	front	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 rolled	obl
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 Spanish	punct
12	like	like	ADP	_	14 Spanish	case
13	in	in	ADP	_	14 Spanish	case
14	Spanish	Spanish	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 rolled	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	roll	present · passive		the French r		the front			vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: subject=Theme at front=Trajectory

Option 3

Yes, French r is always silent, so you skip it

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	Polarity=Pos	7 silent	discourse
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	1 Yes	punct
3	French	French	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 r	amod
4	r	r	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 silent	nsubj
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 silent	cop
6	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	7 silent	advmod
7	silent	silent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 skip	punct
9	so	so	ADV	_	11 skip	advmod
10	you	you	PRON	Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs	11 skip	nsubj
11	skip	skip	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 silent	parataxis
12	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 skip	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	French r					always, silent property	tree rules
2	skip	present	you	r					vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme

Option 4

Not really, but it is done with the lips

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	2 really	advmod
2	really	really	ADV	_	7 done	advmod
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 done	punct
4	but	but	CCONJ	_	7 done	cc
5	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 done	nsubj:pass
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 done	aux:pass
7	done	do	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
8	with	with	ADP	_	10 lips	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 lips	det
10	lips	lip	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 done	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	do	present · passive		it				with the lips	vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality

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/t3/