Gleanings from Chinese folklore, T’ang Sung’s Journey to Get the Buddhist Classics, sentence 124
Sun Hou called to him to make a hole with his horn; this he did, but when he pulled out his horn the hole closed up; again he did it, and Sun Hou changed into a mustard seed and was pulled out by the cow.
Who acts: Sun, this, cow · What happens: call, make, do, pull out, close up, change · To what, where: Buddha, hole, horn, mustard seed · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, T’ang Sung’s Journey to Get the Buddhist Classics. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Sun, this, cow), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.
Mova's own parse. This tree may be wrong.
The tree
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sun | Sun | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 called | nsubj |
| 2 | Hou | Hou | PROPN | Number=Sing | 1 Sun | flat |
| 3 | called | call | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | to | to | ADP | _ | 5 him | case |
| 5 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 called | obl |
| 6 | to | to | PART | _ | 7 make | mark |
| 7 | make | make | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 3 called | advcl |
| 8 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 9 hole | det |
| 9 | hole | hole | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 make | obj |
| 10 | with | with | ADP | _ | 12 horn | case |
| 11 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 12 horn | nmod:poss |
| 12 | horn | horn | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 hole | nmod |
| 13 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 16 did | punct |
| 14 | this | this | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 16 did | nsubj |
| 15 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 16 did | nsubj |
| 16 | did | do | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 called | parataxis |
| 17 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 21 pulled | punct |
| 18 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 21 pulled | cc |
| 19 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 21 pulled | advmod |
| 20 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 21 pulled | nsubj |
| 21 | pulled | pull | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 16 did | parataxis |
| 22 | out | out | ADP | _ | 21 pulled | compound:prt |
| 23 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 24 horn | nmod:poss |
| 24 | horn | horn | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 pulled | obl |
| 25 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 26 hole | det |
| 26 | hole | hole | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 horn | obj |
| 27 | closed | close | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 26 hole | acl |
| 28 | up | up | ADP | _ | 27 closed | compound:prt |
| 29 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 32 did | punct |
| 30 | again | again | ADV | _ | 32 did | advmod |
| 31 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 32 did | nsubj |
| 32 | did | do | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 called | conj |
| 33 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 32 did | obj |
| 34 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 38 changed | punct |
| 35 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 38 changed | cc |
| 36 | Sun | Sun | PROPN | Number=Sing | 38 changed | nsubj |
| 37 | Hou | Hou | PROPN | Number=Sing | 36 Sun | flat |
| 38 | changed | change | VERB | Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 called | parataxis |
| 39 | into | into | ADP | _ | 42 seed | case |
| 40 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 42 seed | det |
| 41 | mustard | mustard | NOUN | Number=Sing | 42 seed | compound |
| 42 | seed | seed | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 changed | obl |
| 43 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 45 pulled | cc |
| 44 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 45 pulled | aux:pass |
| 45 | pulled | pull | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 38 changed | conj |
| 46 | out | out | ADP | _ | 45 pulled | compound:prt |
| 47 | by | by | ADP | _ | 49 cow | case |
| 48 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 49 cow | det |
| 49 | cow | cow | NOUN | Number=Sing | 45 pulled | obl |
| 50 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 called | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | call speech: assert | past | Sun | Buddha | vn animal_sounds-38 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to he=Recipient | ||||
| 2 | make | to-infinitive | Sun not said here | a hole | with Sun's horn | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset hole=Product | |||
| 3 | do | past | this | Sun nsubj | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 4 | pull out | past | Sun | Sun's horn the hole | vn withdraw-82-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 5 | close up | participle | the hole not said here | vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient | |||||
| 6 | do | past | Sun | hole | again | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality | |||
| 7 | change | past | Sun | into a mustard seed result | vn turn-26.6.1-1 «NP.patient V PP.result»: agent=Patient into seed=Result | ||||
| 8 | pull out | past · passive | the cow | vn withdraw-82-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
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.
Text: «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, Project Gutenberg book 75089 (public domain in the USA). Tree: Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. Frames: Mova's frames reader (prag), the chapter read in order.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/16/124/