In Ghostly Japan, Names of Incense Used., part 7, sentence 40
Were the howl of a dog really—as once supposed—an outcry of ghostly terror, the meaning might possibly be, “_I smell Them!
Who acts: outcry, unanimity · What happens: be, suppose, smell, outcry · To what, where: howl, outcry, ghostly terror · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Names of Incense Used., part 7. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (outcry, unanimity), 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 | Were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 howl | cop |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 howl | det |
| 3 | howl | howl | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 supposed | nsubj:pass |
| 4 | of | of | ADP | _ | 6 dog | case |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 6 dog | det |
| 6 | dog | dog | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 howl | nmod |
| 7 | really | really | ADV | _ | 11 supposed | advmod |
| 8 | — | - | PUNCT | _ | 7 really | punct |
| 9 | as | as | ADV | _ | 10 once | advmod |
| 10 | once | once | ADV | NumForm=Word NumType=Mult | 11 supposed | advmod |
| 11 | supposed | suppose | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 12 | — | - | PUNCT | _ | 14 outcry | punct |
| 13 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 14 outcry | det |
| 14 | outcry | outcry | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 be | nsubj |
| 15 | of | of | ADP | _ | 17 terror | case |
| 16 | ghostly | ghostly | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 17 terror | amod |
| 17 | terror | terror | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 outcry | nmod |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 meaning | punct |
| 19 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 meaning | det |
| 20 | meaning | meaning | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 outcry | conj |
| 21 | might | might | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 23 be | aux |
| 22 | possibly | possibly | ADV | _ | 23 be | advmod |
| 23 | be | be | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 11 supposed | ccomp |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 28 smell | punct |
| 25 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 28 smell | punct |
| 26 | _ | _ | PUNCT | _ | 28 smell | punct |
| 27 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 28 smell | nsubj |
| 28 | smell | smell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 11 supposed | conj |
| 29 | Them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 28 smell | obj |
| 30 | ! | ! | PUNCT | _ | 11 supposed | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | past | the howl | of a dog | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | suppose | participle · passive | the howl | once property | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Attribute clause=Theme | ||||
| 3 | be | might | a outcry of ghostly terror and the meaning | possibly property | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 4 | smell in a quote | present | this unanimity of superstitious belief = unanimity | outcry | vn see-30.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer they=Stimulus | ||||
| 5 | outcry | ghostly terror | nom outcry «communication 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/pg8128/9/40/