Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 2, sentence 115
Not a word was spoken for a moment, then Mr. Tu said, pointing to the keepsakes, “What are those things?
Who acts: Tu · What happens: speak, say, point, be · To what, where: word, keepsakes, things · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Story of Old China, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Tu), 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 | Not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 3 word | advmod |
| 2 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 word | det |
| 3 | word | word | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 spoken | nsubj:pass |
| 4 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 spoken | aux:pass |
| 5 | spoken | speak | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 6 | for | for | ADP | _ | 8 moment | case |
| 7 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 moment | det |
| 8 | moment | moment | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 spoken | obl |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 13 said | punct |
| 10 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 13 said | advmod |
| 11 | Mr. | Mr. | PROPN | Number=Sing | 12 Tu | nmod:desc |
| 12 | Tu | Tu | PROPN | Number=Sing | 13 said | nsubj |
| 13 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 spoken | parataxis |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 pointing | punct |
| 15 | pointing | point | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 13 said | advcl |
| 16 | to | to | ADP | _ | 18 keepsakes | case |
| 17 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 18 keepsakes | det |
| 18 | keepsakes | keepsake | NOUN | Number=Plur | 15 pointing | obl |
| 19 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 24 things | punct |
| 20 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 24 things | punct |
| 21 | What | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 24 things | nsubj |
| 22 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 24 things | cop |
| 23 | those | that | DET | Number=Plur PronType=Dem | 24 things | det |
| 24 | things | thing | NOUN | Number=Plur | 15 pointing | obl |
| 25 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 5 spoken | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | speak speech: other | past · passive | a word | moment | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | say speech: ask | past | Tu Mr. | then | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 3 | point | gerund | Tu Mr. not said here | the keepsakes | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to keepsake=Recipient | ||||
| 4 | is a in a quote | present | that things | What nsubj | 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.
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/pg75089/18/115/