Exam question 1 · Accents and dialects of Britain and Ireland

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a dialect?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: dialect

This is exam question 1 of lesson 18 «Accents and dialects of Britain and Ireland» of the language 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	10 dialect	det
10	dialect	dialect	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	?	?	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 dialect				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

A defective variety of a language employed by uneducated persons

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 variety	det
2	defective	defective	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 variety	amod
3	variety	variety	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 language	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 language	det
6	language	language	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 variety	nmod
7	employed	employ	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 language	acl
8	by	by	ADP	_	10 persons	case
9	uneducated	uneducated	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 persons	amod
10	persons	person	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 employed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	employ	participle		a language not said here				by uneducated persons	vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 2

A language unrelated to any other spoken in the same country

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	unrelated	unrelated	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 language	amod
4	to	to	ADP	_	5 any	case
5	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	3 unrelated	obl
6	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 any	fixed
7	spoken	speak	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 language	acl
8	in	in	ADP	_	11 country	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 country	det
10	same	same	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 country	amod
11	country	country	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 spoken	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	speak speech: other	participle		a language not said here		the same country			vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3

The manner of pronunciation only, without any lexical distinctions

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 manner	det
2	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 pronunciation	case
4	pronunciation	pronunciation	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 manner	nmod
5	only	only	ADV	_	4 pronunciation	advmod
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 distinctions	punct
7	without	without	ADP	_	10 distinctions	case
8	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	10 distinctions	det
9	lexical	lexical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 distinctions	amod
10	distinctions	distinction	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 manner	conj

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

A local variety of a language possessing distinct vocabulary and grammar

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 variety	det
2	local	local	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 variety	amod
3	variety	variety	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 language	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 language	det
6	language	language	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 variety	nmod
7	possessing	possess	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 language	acl
8	distinct	distinct	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 vocabulary	amod
9	vocabulary	vocabulary	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 possessing	obj
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 grammar	cc
11	grammar	grammar	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 vocabulary	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	possess	gerund	a language not said here	distinct vocabulary and grammar					vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot vocabulary=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/language/18-accents-and-dialects-of-britain-and-ireland/e1/