---
title: The song of “Ting Lang Seeking his Father” is never sung by the “fou… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: The song of “Ting Lang Seeking his Father” is never sung by the “foundation beaters” of China except they are given a special gift of money or a meal of white bread. Who acts: Ting. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Story of Old China, part 5, with its depend
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 5, sentence 18

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The song of “Ting Lang Seeking his Father” is never sung by the “foundation beaters” of China except they are given a special gift of money or a meal of white bread.

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**Who acts:** Ting · **What happens:** seek, not sing, give, sing, gift · **To what, where:** Father, song, money · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Story of Old China, part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Ting), 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:pg75089:21:18
# text = The song of “Ting Lang Seeking his Father” is never sung by the “foundation beaters” of China except they are given a special gift of money or a meal of white bread.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	song	song	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	Ting	ting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	Lang	Lang	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	appos	_	_
7	Seeking	seek	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	acl	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	Father	Father	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
11	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux:pass	_	_
12	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
13	sung	sing	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
14	by	by	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
16	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	foundation	foundation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	compound	_	_
18	beaters	beater	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	18	punct	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	China	China	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	_
22	except	except	ADP	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
23	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
24	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux:pass	_	_
25	given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	advcl	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	special	special	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	gift	gift	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	money	money	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	_
31	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
32	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	meal	meal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	conj	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	bread	bread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seek** *in a quote* | gerund | Ting *not said here* | Lang's Father |  |  |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent father=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **sing** *speech: express* | present · passive |  | the song of Ting |  |  |  | by the foundation beaters of China | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 3 | **give** | present · passive |  | father |  |  |  | a special gift of money or a meal of white bread *obj* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Recipient gift=Theme |
| 4 | **sing** |  | Ting |  |  |  |  |  | nom song «communication intransitive»: of=agent |
| 5 | **gift** |  |  | money |  |  |  |  | nom gift «possession transitive»: of=patient |

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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.

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**Text:** «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, Project Gutenberg book 75089 (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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