Exam question 2 · Languages and peoples on the map
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a lingua franca?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: lingua franca
This is exam question 2 of lesson 25 «Languages and peoples on the map» of the geography 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 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 11 franca | det |
| 10 | lingua | lingua | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 franca | compound |
| 11 | franca | franca | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 characterises | obj |
| 12 | ? | ? | 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 | a lingua franca | of the following statements; accurately 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
A language confined in its use to the French Republic
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 language | det |
| 2 | language | language | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 3 | confined | confine | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 2 language | acl |
| 4 | in | in | ADP | _ | 6 use | case |
| 5 | its | its | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 6 use | nmod:poss |
| 6 | use | use | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 confined | obl |
| 7 | to | to | ADP | _ | 10 Republic | case |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 Republic | det |
| 9 | French | French | PROPN | Number=Sing | 10 Republic | compound |
| 10 | Republic | Republic | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 confined | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | confine | participle | a language not said here | language's use | to the French Republic | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in use=Destination | |||
| 2 | use | language | nom use «act transitive»: poss=agent |
Option 2
The most ancient member of any family of languages, from which the others descend
The tree, 14 words
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 member | det |
| 2 | most | most | ADV | Degree=Sup | 3 ancient | advmod |
| 3 | ancient | ancient | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 member | amod |
| 4 | member | member | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 descend | nsubj |
| 5 | of | of | ADP | _ | 7 family | case |
| 6 | any | any | DET | PronType=Ind | 7 family | det |
| 7 | family | family | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 member | nmod |
| 8 | of | of | ADP | _ | 9 languages | case |
| 9 | languages | language | NOUN | Number=Plur | 7 family | nmod |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 descend | punct |
| 11 | from | from | ADP | _ | 12 which | case |
| 12 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 15 descend | obl |
| 13 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 others | det |
| 14 | others | other | NOUN | Number=Plur | 15 descend | nsubj |
| 15 | descend | descend | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | descend | present | the ancient member of any family of languages | vn meander-47.7-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme from which=Location |
Option 3
A language lacking any written form whatsoever
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 language | det |
| 2 | language | language | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 3 | lacking | lack | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 2 language | acl |
| 4 | any | any | DET | PronType=Ind | 6 form | det |
| 5 | written | write | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 6 form | amod |
| 6 | form | form | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 lacking | obj |
| 7 | whatsoever | whatsoever | ADV | _ | 3 lacking | advmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | lack | gerund | a language not said here | any written form | whatsoever property | tree rules | |||
| 2 | write | participle | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
Option 4 · ✓ the right answer
A language employed for communication between persons of differing first languages
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 language | det |
| 2 | language | language | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 3 | employed | employ | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 2 language | acl |
| 4 | for | for | ADP | _ | 5 communication | case |
| 5 | communication | communication | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 employed | obl |
| 6 | between | between | ADP | _ | 7 persons | case |
| 7 | persons | person | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 communication | nmod |
| 8 | of | of | SCONJ | _ | 9 differing | mark |
| 9 | differing | differ | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 7 persons | acl |
| 10 | first | first | ADJ | Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord | 11 languages | amod |
| 11 | languages | language | NOUN | Number=Plur | 9 differing | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | employ | participle | a language not said here | for communication between persons | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP PP.predicate»: agent=Agent for communication=Eventuality | ||||
| 2 | differ | gerund | persons not said here | first languages | tree rules |
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/geography/25-languages-and-peoples-on-the-map/e2/