---
title: “Why, _bábushka_,” the stranger asked, “is there such a throng in th… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: “Why, _bábushka_,” the stranger asked, “is there such a throng in the city, why are rooms so dear, and why are the people all mourning and melancholy?” Who acts: stranger, throng. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 7, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of e
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 7, sentence 136

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“Why, \_bábushka\_,” the stranger asked, “is there such a throng in the city, why are rooms so dear, and why are the people all mourning and melancholy?”

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**Who acts:** stranger, throng · **What happens:** ask, be · **To what, where:** rooms, people · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, 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 (stranger, throng), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg62509:7:136
# text = “Why, _bábushka_,” the stranger asked, “is there such a throng in the city, why are rooms so dear, and why are the people all mourning and melancholy?”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	bábushka	bábushka	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	2	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	stranger	stranger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	ccomp	_	_
15	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	14	expl	_	_
16	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	18	det:predet	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	throng	throng	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
19	in	in	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	25	advmod	_	_
24	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
25	rooms	room	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	appos	_	_
26	so	so	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	dear	dear	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
30	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	33	advmod	_	_
31	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	33	cop	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	parataxis	_	_
34	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	35	det	_	_
35	mourning	mourning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	appos	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
37	melancholy	melancholy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	33	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | the stranger |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **be** *in a quote* | present | such throng in the city |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | present |  | rooms |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **is a** *in a quote* | present |  | the people |  |  |  | all mourning and melancholy *appos* | tree rules |

<!-- .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.

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**Text:** «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Project Gutenberg book 62509 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

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