In Ghostly Japan, Names of Incense Used., part 2, sentence 73

An early stage of that degeneration would be represented by total incapacity to help ourselves;—then we should begin to lose the use of our higher sense-organs;—later on, the brain would shrink to a vanishing pin-point of matter;—still later we should dwindle into mere amorphous sacs, mere blind stomachs.

Who acts: total incapacity, we, brain · What happens: represent, help, begin, lose, shrink, vanish · To what, where: early stage, ourselves, use, mere amorphous sacs, blind stomachs, higher sense organs

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 (total incapacity, we, brain), 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	An	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 stage	det
2	early	early	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 stage	amod
3	stage	stage	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 represented	nsubj:pass
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 degeneration	case
5	that	that	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	6 degeneration	det
6	degeneration	degeneration	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 stage	nmod
7	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	9 represented	aux
8	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	9 represented	aux:pass
9	represented	represent	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
10	by	by	ADP	_	12 incapacity	case
11	total	total	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 incapacity	amod
12	incapacity	incapacity	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 represented	obl
13	to	to	PART	_	14 help	mark
14	help	help	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 represented	advcl
15	ourselves	ourselves	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	14 help	obj
16	;	;	PUNCT	_	9 represented	punct
17	—	-	PUNCT	_	21 begin	punct
18	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	21 begin	advmod
19	we	we	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs	21 begin	nsubj
20	should	should	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	21 begin	aux
21	begin	begin	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 represented	parataxis
22	to	to	PART	_	23 lose	mark
23	lose	lose	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	21 begin	xcomp
24	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	25 use	det
25	use	use	NOUN	Number=Sing	23 lose	obj
26	of	of	ADP	_	31 organs	case
27	our	our	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	31 organs	nmod:poss
28	higher	high	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	31 organs	amod
29	sense	sense	NOUN	Number=Sing	31 organs	compound
30	-	-	PUNCT	_	29 sense	punct
31	organs	organ	NOUN	Number=Plur	25 use	nmod
32	;	;	PUNCT	_	21 begin	punct
33	—	-	PUNCT	_	35 on	punct
34	later	late	ADV	Degree=Cmp	35 on	advmod
35	on	on	ADV	_	21 begin	advmod
36	,	,	PUNCT	_	40 shrink	punct
37	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	38 brain	det
38	brain	brain	NOUN	Number=Sing	40 shrink	nsubj
39	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	40 shrink	aux
40	shrink	shrink	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	21 begin	conj
41	to	to	ADP	_	46 point	case
42	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	46 point	det
43	vanishing	vanish	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	46 point	amod
44	pin	pin	NOUN	Number=Sing	46 point	compound
45	-	-	PUNCT	_	44 pin	punct
46	point	point	NOUN	Number=Sing	40 shrink	obl
47	of	of	ADP	_	48 matter	case
48	matter	matter	NOUN	Number=Sing	46 point	nmod
49	;	;	PUNCT	_	9 represented	punct
50	—	-	PUNCT	_	55 dwindle	punct
51	still	still	ADV	_	52 later	advmod
52	later	late	ADV	Degree=Cmp	55 dwindle	advmod
53	we	we	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs	55 dwindle	nsubj
54	should	should	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	55 dwindle	aux
55	dwindle	dwindle	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 represented	parataxis
56	into	into	ADP	_	59 sacs	case
57	mere	mere	ADJ	Degree=Pos	59 sacs	amod
58	amorphous	amorphous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	59 sacs	amod
59	sacs	sac	NOUN	Number=Plur	55 dwindle	obl
60	,	,	PUNCT	_	61 mere	punct
61	mere	mere	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	55 dwindle	conj
62	blind	blind	ADJ	Degree=Pos	63 stomachs	amod
63	stomachs	stomach	NOUN	Number=Plur	61 mere	obj
64	.	.	PUNCT	_	9 represented	punct

Pragmatics

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	represent	would · passive	total incapacity	a early stage of that degeneration				vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot subject=Theme
2	help	to-infinitive	total incapacity not said here	ourselves				vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ourselves=Beneficiary
3	begin	should	we			then		vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality
4	lose	to-infinitive	we not said here	the use of our higher sense organs				vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent use=Eventuality
5	shrink	would	the brain				to a vanishing pin point of matter result	vn bend-45.2 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent to point=Result
6	vanish	gerund						vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
7	dwindle	should	we		mere amorphous sacs	still	late property	vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute
8	mere	present	we not said here	blind stomachs				tree rules
9	use			our higher sense organs				nom use «act transitive»: of=patient
10	point			matter				nom point «cognition transitive»: of=patient

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/pg8128/4/73/

🌲 In Ghostly Japan, Names of Incense Used., part 2, sentence 73

The tree

Pragmatics

In Ghostly Japan, Names of Incense Used., part 2, sentence 73