Exam question 1 · Sign language

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises British Sign Language?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: British Sign Language

This is exam question 1 of lesson 32 «Sign language» 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	British	British	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 Language	amod
10	Sign	Sign	PROPN	Number=Sing	11 Language	compound
11	Language	Language	PROPN	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		British Sign Language				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 system of mime devoid of grammatical rules

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 system	det
2	system	system	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 devoid	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 mime	case
4	mime	mime	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 system	nmod
5	devoid	devoid	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 rules	case
7	grammatical	grammatical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 rules	amod
8	rules	rule	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 devoid	obl

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

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

A complete language possessing its own grammar, distinct from English

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 language	det
2	complete	complete	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 language	amod
3	language	language	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	possessing	possess	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 language	acl
5	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 grammar	nmod:poss
6	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 grammar	amod
7	grammar	grammar	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 possessing	obj
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 distinct	punct
9	distinct	distinct	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 grammar	conj
10	from	from	ADP	_	11 English	case
11	English	English	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 possessing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	possess	gerund	a complete language not said here	language's own grammar		English			vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot grammar=Theme

Option 3

A manual representation of English words, presented strictly in English order

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 representation	det
2	manual	manual	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 representation	amod
3	representation	representation	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 presented	nsubj:pass
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 words	case
5	English	English	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 words	amod
6	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 representation	nmod
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 presented	punct
8	presented	present	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
9	strictly	strictly	ADV	_	8 presented	advmod
10	in	in	ADP	_	12 order	case
11	English	English	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 order	compound
12	order	order	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 presented	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	present	participle · passive		a manual representation of English words		English order		strictly property	vn fulfilling-13.4.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	represent			English words					nom representation «cognition transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

A dialect of American Sign Language

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 dialect	det
2	dialect	dialect	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 Language	case
4	American	American	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 Language	amod
5	Sign	Sign	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 Language	compound
6	Language	Language	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 dialect	nmod

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

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/32-sign-language/e1/