---
title: 1 Samuel 15:14 (JPS 1917) — And Samuel said: 'What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mi… · tree and pragmatics
description: And Samuel said: 'What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?' Who acts: Samuel, I. 1 Samuel 15:14 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# 1 Samuel 15:14 · JPS 1917

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And Samuel said: 'What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?'

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**Who acts:** Samuel, I · **What happens:** say, mean, hear · **To what, where:** bleating, oxen · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is 1 Samuel 15:14 · 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 (Samuel, I), 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:1SA:395
# text = And Samuel said: 'What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?'
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	Samuel	Samuel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	7	punct	_	_
5	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	_
6	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	7	nsubj	_	_
7	meaneth	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
8	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	7	advmod	_	_
9	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	10	det	_	_
10	bleating	bleating	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	sheep	sheep	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nmod	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	mine	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	ears	ear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nmod	_	_
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	lowing	lowing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	conj	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	oxen	ox	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	nmod	_	_
24	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	26	obj	_	_
25	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	hear	hear	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	acl:relcl	_	_
27	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
28	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: wh-question
- act: disagree
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- indirect: yes
- teacher: changed act=disagree, indirect=1

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Samuel |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **mean** | present |  | this bleating of the sheep and the lowing of the oxen |  |  | then | in mine ears | vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Pivot bleating=Theme in ear=Attribute |
| 3 | **hear** | present | I | the oxen |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer which=Stimulus |

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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}

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וַיֹּ֣אמֶר שְׁמוּאֵ֔ל וּמֶ֛ה קֽוֹל־הַצֹּ֥אן הַזֶּ֖ה בְּאָזְנָ֑י וְק֣וֹל הַבָּקָ֔ר אֲשֶׁ֥ר אָנֹכִ֖י שֹׁמֵֽעַ׃

[1 Samuel 15:14: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1SA.15.14/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:1SA:395` 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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