In Ghostly Japan, Names of Incense Used., part 2, sentence 20

I was puzzled by the phrase, “silkworm-moth eyebrow,” in an old Japanese, or rather Chinese proverb:—_The silkworm-moth eyebrow of a woman is the axe that cuts down the wisdom of man.

Who acts: phrase, moth eyebrow, axe · What happens: puzzle, be, cut down · To what, where: I, old Japanese Chinese proverb, axe, wisdom

This is a sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Names of Incense Used., 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 (phrase, moth eyebrow, axe), 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	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	3 puzzled	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 puzzled	aux:pass
3	puzzled	puzzle	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 phrase	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 phrase	det
6	phrase	phrase	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 puzzled	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 eyebrow	punct
8	“	"	PUNCT	_	12 eyebrow	punct
9	silkworm	silkworm	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 moth	compound
10	-	-	PUNCT	_	9 silkworm	punct
11	moth	moth	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 eyebrow	compound
12	eyebrow	eyebrow	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 phrase	conj
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	3 puzzled	punct
14	”	"	PUNCT	_	3 puzzled	punct
15	in	in	ADP	_	23 proverb	case
16	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	23 proverb	det
17	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	23 proverb	amod
18	Japanese	Japanese	ADJ	Degree=Pos	23 proverb	amod
19	,	,	PUNCT	_	23 proverb	punct
20	or	or	CCONJ	_	23 proverb	cc
21	rather	rather	ADV	_	22 Chinese	advmod
22	Chinese	Chinese	ADJ	Degree=Pos	23 proverb	amod
23	proverb	proverb	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 puzzled	obl
24	:	:	PUNCT	_	3 puzzled	punct
25	—	-	PUNCT	_	37 axe	punct
26	_	_	PUNCT	_	37 axe	punct
27	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	31 eyebrow	det
28	silkworm	silkworm	NOUN	Number=Sing	30 moth	compound
29	-	-	PUNCT	_	28 silkworm	punct
30	moth	moth	NOUN	Number=Sing	31 eyebrow	compound
31	eyebrow	eyebrow	NOUN	Number=Sing	37 axe	nsubj
32	of	of	ADP	_	34 woman	case
33	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	34 woman	det
34	woman	woman	NOUN	Number=Sing	31 eyebrow	nmod
35	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	37 axe	cop
36	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	37 axe	det
37	axe	axe	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 puzzled	obl
38	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	39 cuts	nsubj
39	cuts	cut	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	37 axe	acl:relcl
40	down	down	ADP	_	42 wisdom	case
41	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	42 wisdom	det
42	wisdom	wisdom	NOUN	Number=Sing	39 cuts	obl
43	of	of	ADP	_	44 man	case
44	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	42 wisdom	nmod
45	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 puzzled	punct

Pragmatics

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	puzzle	past · passive	the phrase and moth eyebrow	I	a old Japanese Chinese proverb	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus subject=Experiencer
2	is a	present	the moth eyebrow of a woman	the axe		tree rules
3	cut down	present	the axe	the wisdom of man		vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset wisdom=Product

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/pg8128/4/20/

🌲 In Ghostly Japan, Names of Incense Used., part 2, sentence 20

The tree

Pragmatics

In Ghostly Japan, Names of Incense Used., part 2, sentence 20