--- title: “I have heard tales of birds talking,” said Chang, “but may I be bea… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics description: “I have heard tales of birds talking,” said Chang, “but may I be beaten if I haven’t got hold of a fish that talks.” Who acts: Chang, birds, fish. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 16, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/16/49/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Jade Story Book; Stories from the…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/) / [Opening, part 16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/16/) / 49 # The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 16, sentence 49 “I have heard tales of birds talking,” said Chang, “but may I be beaten if I haven’t got hold of a fish that talks.” **Who acts:** Chang, birds, fish · **What happens:** hear, talk, say, beat, not get, tell · **To what, where:** tales, Chang, hold, fish · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 16. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Chang, birds, fish), 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 {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg65965:16:49 # text = “I have heard tales of birds talking,” said Chang, “but may I be beaten if I haven’t got hold of a fish that talks.” 1 “ " PUNCT `` _ 4 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 3 have have AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 4 aux _ _ 4 heard hear VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 11 ccomp _ _ 5 tales tale NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 obj _ _ 6 of of ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 7 birds bird NOUN NNS Number=Plur 5 nmod _ _ 8 talking talk VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 7 acl _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 4 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 10 ” " PUNCT '' _ 4 punct _ _ 11 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 12 Chang Chang PROPN NNP Number=Sing 11 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 14 “ " PUNCT `` _ 19 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 15 but but CCONJ CC _ 19 cc _ _ 16 may may AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 19 aux _ _ 17 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 19 nsubj _ _ 18 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 19 aux:pass _ _ 19 beaten beat VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 11 parataxis _ _ 20 if if SCONJ IN _ 24 mark _ _ 21 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 24 nsubj _ _ 22 have have AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 24 aux _ SpaceAfter=No 23 n’t not PART RB Polarity=Neg 24 advmod _ _ 24 got get VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 19 advcl _ _ 25 hold hold NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 obj _ _ 26 of of ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 27 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 28 det _ _ 28 fish fish NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 nmod _ _ 29 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 30 nsubj _ _ 30 talks talk VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 28 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 31 . . PUNCT . _ 11 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 32 ” " PUNCT '' _ 11 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **hear** *in a quote* | present · perfect | Chang | tales of birds | | | | | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer tale=Stimulus | | 2 | **talk** *in a quote* | gerund | birds *not said here* | | | | | | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Chang | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 4 | **beat** *in a quote* | may · passive | | Chang | | | | | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme | | 5 | **not** **get** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present · perfect | Chang | hold of a fish | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer hold=Stimulus | | 6 | **talk** *in a quote* | present | a fish | | | | | | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **tell** *in a quote* | | birds | | | | | | nom tale «communication intransitive»: of=agent | | 8 | **hold** *in a quote* | | | a fish | | | | | nom hold «act 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:** «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Project Gutenberg book 65965 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order. - ← previous: [sentence 48](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/16/48/) - next →: [sentence 50](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/16/50/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/16/)