In Ghostly Japan, Names of Incense Used., part 2, sentence 93
“Well,” he said, “I was reminded of a queer Buddhist story by the proverb that you asked me to explain,—_The silkworm-moth eyebrow of a woman is the axe that cuts down the wisdom of man.
Who acts: Niimi, proverb, you, moth eyebrow, axe · What happens: say, remind, ask, explain, be, cut down · To what, where: Niimi, proverb, axe, wisdom · Speech: someone speaks here
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 (Niimi, proverb, you, moth eyebrow), 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 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 6 said | punct |
| 2 | Well | well | INTJ | _ | 6 said | discourse |
| 3 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 2 Well | punct |
| 4 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 2 Well | punct |
| 5 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 6 said | nsubj |
| 6 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 11 reminded | punct |
| 8 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 11 reminded | punct |
| 9 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 11 reminded | nsubj |
| 10 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 11 reminded | aux:pass |
| 11 | reminded | remind | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 6 said | ccomp |
| 12 | of | of | ADP | _ | 16 story | case |
| 13 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 16 story | det |
| 14 | queer | queer | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 16 story | amod |
| 15 | Buddhist | Buddhist | PROPN | Number=Sing | 16 story | compound |
| 16 | story | story | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 reminded | obl |
| 17 | by | by | ADP | _ | 19 proverb | case |
| 18 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 19 proverb | det |
| 19 | proverb | proverb | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 reminded | obl |
| 20 | that | that | PRON | PronType=Rel | 22 asked | obj |
| 21 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 22 asked | nsubj |
| 22 | asked | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 19 proverb | acl:relcl |
| 23 | me | I | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 22 asked | iobj |
| 24 | to | to | PART | _ | 25 explain | mark |
| 25 | explain | explain | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 22 asked | xcomp |
| 26 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 6 said | punct |
| 27 | — | - | PUNCT | _ | 6 said | punct |
| 28 | _ | _ | PUNCT | _ | 6 said | punct |
| 29 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 33 eyebrow | det |
| 30 | silkworm | silkworm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 moth | compound |
| 31 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 30 silkworm | punct |
| 32 | moth | moth | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 eyebrow | compound |
| 33 | eyebrow | eyebrow | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 axe | nsubj |
| 34 | of | of | ADP | _ | 36 woman | case |
| 35 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 36 woman | det |
| 36 | woman | woman | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 eyebrow | nmod |
| 37 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 39 axe | cop |
| 38 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 39 axe | det |
| 39 | axe | axe | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 said | ccomp |
| 40 | that | that | PRON | PronType=Rel | 41 cuts | nsubj |
| 41 | cuts | cut | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 39 axe | acl:relcl |
| 42 | down | down | ADP | _ | 44 wisdom | case |
| 43 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 44 wisdom | det |
| 44 | wisdom | wisdom | NOUN | Number=Sing | 41 cuts | obl |
| 45 | of | of | ADP | _ | 46 man | case |
| 46 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 44 wisdom | nmod |
| 47 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 6 said | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | past | Niimi | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 2 | remind speech: other in a quote | past · passive | the proverb | Niimi | of a queer Buddhist story | vn tell-37.2 «NP V NP.recipient PP.topic»: agent=Agent subject=Recipient of story=Topic | |||
| 3 | ask speech: ask in a quote | past | you | the proverb | Niimi | tree rules | |||
| 4 | explain speech: assert not said to happen, in a quote | to-infinitive | the proverb not said here | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 5 | is a in a quote | present | the moth eyebrow of a woman | the axe | tree rules | ||||
| 6 | cut down in a quote | 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/pg8128/4/93/