In Ghostly Japan, Opening, sentence 78
But as the silk began to burn, there suddenly appeared upon it dazzling characters of flame,—the characters of the invocation, _Namu myō hō rengé kyō;_—and these, one by one, leaped like great sparks to the temple roof; and the temple took fire.
Who acts: silk, temple · What happens: begin, burn, appear, dazzle, leap, take · To what, where: these, characters, temple roof, fire
This is a sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Opening. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (silk, temple), 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 | But | but | CCONJ | _ | 11 appeared | cc |
| 2 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 5 began | mark |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 silk | det |
| 4 | silk | silk | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 began | nsubj |
| 5 | began | begin | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 11 appeared | advcl |
| 6 | to | to | PART | _ | 7 burn | mark |
| 7 | burn | burn | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 5 began | xcomp |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 5 began | punct |
| 9 | there | there | PRON | PronType=Dem | 11 appeared | expl |
| 10 | suddenly | suddenly | ADV | _ | 11 appeared | advmod |
| 11 | appeared | appear | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 12 | upon | upon | SCONJ | _ | 14 dazzling | mark |
| 13 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 14 dazzling | nsubj |
| 14 | dazzling | dazzle | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 11 appeared | advcl |
| 15 | characters | character | NOUN | Number=Plur | 14 dazzling | obj |
| 16 | of | of | ADP | _ | 17 flame | case |
| 17 | flame | flame | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 characters | nmod |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 14 dazzling | punct |
| 19 | — | - | PUNCT | _ | 21 characters | punct |
| 20 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 21 characters | det |
| 21 | characters | character | NOUN | Number=Plur | 14 dazzling | obl |
| 22 | of | of | ADP | _ | 24 invocation | case |
| 23 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 24 invocation | det |
| 24 | invocation | invocation | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 characters | nmod |
| 25 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 27 Namu | punct |
| 26 | _ | _ | PUNCT | _ | 27 Namu | punct |
| 27 | Namu | Namu | PROPN | Number=Sing | 21 characters | nmod |
| 28 | myō | myō | X | Foreign=Yes | 27 Namu | conj |
| 29 | hō | hō | X | Foreign=Yes | 28 myō | flat |
| 30 | rengé | rengé | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 31 kyō | amod |
| 31 | kyō | kyō | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 hō | obj |
| 32 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 33 _ | punct |
| 33 | _ | _ | PUNCT | _ | 11 appeared | punct |
| 34 | — | - | PUNCT | _ | 36 these | punct |
| 35 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 36 these | cc |
| 36 | these | this | PRON | Number=Plur PronType=Dem | 11 appeared | obj |
| 37 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 38 one | punct |
| 38 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 36 these | conj |
| 39 | by | by | ADP | _ | 40 one | case |
| 40 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 38 one | nmod |
| 41 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 42 leaped | punct |
| 42 | leaped | leap | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 38 one | conj |
| 43 | like | like | ADP | _ | 45 sparks | case |
| 44 | great | great | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 45 sparks | amod |
| 45 | sparks | spark | NOUN | Number=Plur | 42 leaped | obl |
| 46 | to | to | ADP | _ | 49 roof | case |
| 47 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 49 roof | det |
| 48 | temple | temple | NOUN | Number=Sing | 49 roof | compound |
| 49 | roof | roof | NOUN | Number=Sing | 42 leaped | obl |
| 50 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 54 took | punct |
| 51 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 54 took | cc |
| 52 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 53 temple | det |
| 53 | temple | temple | NOUN | Number=Sing | 54 took | nsubj |
| 54 | took | take | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 11 appeared | conj |
| 55 | fire | fire | NOUN | Number=Sing | 54 took | obj |
| 56 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 11 appeared | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | begin | past | the silk | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | |||||
| 2 | burn | to-infinitive | the silk not said here | vn light_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 3 | appear | past | these | there | suddenly property | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location this=Theme | |||
| 4 | dazzle | gerund | silk | characters of flame | the characters of the invocation Namu obl | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus character=Experiencer | |||
| 5 | leap | participle | the temple roof | like great sparks | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme to roof=Destination | ||||
| 6 | take | past | the temple | fire | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fire=Theme |
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: «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Project Gutenberg book 8128 (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/pg8128/1/78/