---
title: And the meaning is thus explained: Never speak of your fear when you… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: And the meaning is thus explained: Never speak of your fear when you feel afraid at sea;—if you say that you are afraid, the waves will suddenly rise higher. Who acts: you, waves, your. A sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Story of a Tengu[1], with its dependency tree and the pragmati
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Story of a Tengu\[1\], sentence 158

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And the meaning is thus explained: Never speak of your fear when you feel afraid at sea;—if you say that you are afraid, the waves will suddenly rise higher.

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**Who acts:** you, waves, your · **What happens:** explain, not speak, feel, say, be, rise · **To what, where:** meaning · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Story of a Tengu\[1\]. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, waves, your), 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:pg8128:27:159
# text = And the meaning is thus explained: Never speak of your fear when you feel afraid at sea;—if you say that you are afraid, the waves will suddenly rise higher.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
5	thus	thus	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	explained	explain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
8	Never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
9	speak	speak	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	fear	fear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
13	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	15	advmod	_	_
14	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	feel	feel	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	advcl	_	_
16	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	xcomp	_	_
17	at	at	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
22	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
24	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
25	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
26	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
27	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	waves	wave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	nsubj	_	_
31	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
32	suddenly	suddenly	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
33	rise	rise	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	ccomp	_	_
34	higher	high	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	33	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **explain** *speech: assert* | present · passive |  | the meaning |  |  |  | thus *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **speak** *speech: other* | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | of your fear | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **feel** | present | you |  |  |  |  | afraid *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* *a condition, not said to happen* | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **is** | present | you |  |  |  |  | afraid *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **rise** | future | the waves |  |  |  |  | high, suddenly *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **fear** |  | your |  |  |  |  |  | nom fear «feeling transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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:** «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Project Gutenberg book 8128 (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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