In Ghostly Japan, Story of a Tengu[1], sentence 189
Somewhere it is said that human life is the music of the Gods,—that its sobs and laughter, its songs and shrieks and orisons, its outcries of delight and of despair, rise never to the hearing of the Immortals but as a perfect harmony….
Who acts: human life, music, Immortals · What happens: say, be, rise, sob, sing, outcry · To what, where: sum, music, hearing, delight · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Story of a Tengu[1]. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (human life, music, Immortals), 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 | Somewhere | somewhere | ADV | PronType=Ind | 4 said | advmod |
| 2 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 said | nsubj |
| 3 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 said | aux:pass |
| 4 | said | say | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 5 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 10 music | mark |
| 6 | human | human | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 life | amod |
| 7 | life | life | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 music | nsubj |
| 8 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 10 music | cop |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 music | det |
| 10 | music | music | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 said | ccomp |
| 11 | of | of | ADP | _ | 13 Gods | case |
| 12 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 13 Gods | det |
| 13 | Gods | God | PROPN | Number=Plur | 10 music | nmod |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 4 said | punct |
| 15 | — | - | PUNCT | _ | 20 laughter | punct |
| 16 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 20 laughter | mark |
| 17 | its | its | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 18 sobs | nmod:poss |
| 18 | sobs | sob | NOUN | Number=Plur | 20 laughter | nmod:poss |
| 19 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 18 sobs | cc |
| 20 | laughter | laughter | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 said | obl |
| 21 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 23 songs | punct |
| 22 | its | its | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 23 songs | nmod:poss |
| 23 | songs | song | NOUN | Number=Plur | 20 laughter | appos |
| 24 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 25 shrieks | cc |
| 25 | shrieks | shriek | NOUN | Number=Plur | 23 songs | conj |
| 26 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 27 orisons | cc |
| 27 | orisons | orison | NOUN | Number=Plur | 23 songs | conj |
| 28 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 30 outcries | punct |
| 29 | its | its | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 30 outcries | nmod:poss |
| 30 | outcries | outcry | NOUN | Number=Plur | 20 laughter | conj |
| 31 | of | of | ADP | _ | 32 delight | case |
| 32 | delight | delight | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 outcries | nmod |
| 33 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 35 despair | cc |
| 34 | of | of | ADP | _ | 35 despair | case |
| 35 | despair | despair | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 delight | conj |
| 36 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 37 rise | punct |
| 37 | rise | rise | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | 20 laughter | parataxis |
| 38 | never | never | ADV | PronType=Neg | 41 hearing | advmod |
| 39 | to | to | ADP | _ | 41 hearing | case |
| 40 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 41 hearing | det |
| 41 | hearing | hearing | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 rise | obj |
| 42 | of | of | ADP | _ | 44 Immortals | case |
| 43 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 44 Immortals | det |
| 44 | Immortals | Immortal | PROPN | Number=Plur | 41 hearing | nmod |
| 45 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 49 harmony | cc |
| 46 | as | as | ADP | _ | 49 harmony | case |
| 47 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 49 harmony | det |
| 48 | perfect | perfect | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 49 harmony | amod |
| 49 | harmony | harmony | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 laughter | conj |
| 50 | …. | .. | PUNCT | _ | 4 said | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | present · passive | sum | music's sobs's laughter and music's outcries of delight and despair but a perfect harmony obl; somewhere property | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic | ||||
| 2 | is a | present | human life | the music | of the Gods | tree rules | |||
| 3 | rise | infinitive | the hearing of the Immortals | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location hearing=Theme | |||||
| 4 | sob | music | nom sob «state intransitive»: poss=agent | ||||||
| 5 | sing | music | nom song «communication intransitive»: poss=agent | ||||||
| 6 | outcry | music | delight and despair | nom outcry «communication transitive»: poss=agent of=patient | |||||
| 7 | hear | the Immortals | nom hearing «act intransitive»: of=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: «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/pg8128/27/189/