---
title: Lamentations 4:8 (JPS 1917) — Their visage is blacker than coal; they are not known in the streets… · tree and pragmatics
description: Their visage is blacker than coal; they are not known in the streets; their skin is shrivelled upon their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick. Who acts: visage. Lamentations 4:8 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Lamentations 4:8 · JPS 1917

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Their visage is blacker than coal; they are not known in the streets; their skin is shrivelled upon their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick.

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**Who acts:** visage · **What happens:** be, not know, shrivel, wither, become · **To what, where:** princes, streets, skin

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This is Lamentations 4:8 · JPS 1917 in the English of the Jewish Publication Society's 1917 translation, from Mova's open Bible corpus. The page gives the sentence's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies, parsed by Mova and checked by a teacher model — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (visage), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it. The original of the verse links back to its own tree and to the Targum.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = jps:LAM:129
# text = Their visage is blacker than coal; they are not known in the streets; their skin is shrivelled upon their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick.
1	Their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	visage	visage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	blacker	black	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
5	than	than	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	coal	coal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
7	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj:pass	_	_
9	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux:pass	_	_
10	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
11	known	know	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	parataxis	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	streets	street	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	_
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
16	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	skin	skin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj:pass	_	_
18	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux:pass	_	_
19	shrivelled	shrivel	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	parataxis	_	_
20	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	bones	bone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	_
23	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	26	punct	_	_
24	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj:pass	_	_
25	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux:pass	_	_
26	withered	wither	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	parataxis	_	_
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
28	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj:pass	_	_
29	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux:pass	_	_
30	become	become	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	parataxis	_	_
31	like	like	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	stick	stick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: narrator
- polarity: neg
- teacher: changed polarity=neg

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | princes's visage |  |  |  |  | than coal; black *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **know** | present · passive |  | princes *= prince* |  | the streets |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Stimulus |
| 3 | **shrivel** | present · passive |  | princes's skin |  |  |  | upon princes's bones | vn bend-45.2 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient |
| 4 | **wither** | present · passive |  | skin |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **become** | present · passive |  | skin |  |  |  | like a stick | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Result |

<!-- .note -->
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.

## The Hebrew of this verse {#hebrew}

<!-- .vhe dir=rtl lang=hbo -->
חָשַׁ֤ךְ מִשְּׁחוֹר֙ תָּֽאֳרָ֔ם לֹ֥א נִכְּר֖וּ בַּחוּצ֑וֹת צָפַ֤ד עוֹרָם֙ עַל־עַצְמָ֔ם יָבֵ֖שׁ הָיָ֥ה כָעֵֽץ׃ס

[Lamentations 4:8: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/LAM.4.8/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:LAM:129` of Mova's parse database.

**The tree and the speech act** come from Mova's cycle: the small model's draft, read by a large model as teacher, passed by Mova's gates (Elamur Cosmic License). **The frames** are read from the tree by Mova's frames reader (`prag`) when this page is built, the chapter read in order, so a pronoun may be resolved from an earlier sentence of the chapter.

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