--- title: Somewhere it is said that human life is the music of the Gods,—that… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics description: Somewhere it is said that human life is the music of the Gods,—that its sobs and laughter, its songs and shrieks and orisons, its outcries of delight and of despair, rise never to the hearing of the Immortals but as a perfect harmony…. Who acts: human life, music, Immortals. A sentence of «In Ghostl --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/27/189/) [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/) / [In Ghostly Japan](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/) / [Story of a Tengu\[1\]](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/27/) / 189 # In Ghostly Japan, Story of a Tengu\[1\], sentence 189 Somewhere it is said that human life is the music of the Gods,—that its sobs and laughter, its songs and shrieks and orisons, its outcries of delight and of despair, rise never to the hearing of the Immortals but as a perfect harmony…. **Who acts:** human life, music, Immortals · **What happens:** say, be, rise, sob, sing, outcry · **To what, where:** sum, music, hearing, delight · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (human life, music, Immortals), 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:pg8128:27:190 # text = Somewhere it is said that human life is the music of the Gods,—that its sobs and laughter, its songs and shrieks and orisons, its outcries of delight and of despair, rise never to the hearing of the Immortals but as a perfect harmony…. 1 Somewhere somewhere ADV RB PronType=Ind 4 advmod _ _ 2 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 3 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 4 aux:pass _ _ 4 said say VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 0 root _ _ 5 that that SCONJ IN _ 10 mark _ _ 6 human human ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 7 amod _ _ 7 life life NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 nsubj _ _ 8 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 10 cop _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 music music NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 ccomp _ _ 11 of of ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 12 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 13 Gods God PROPN NNPS Number=Plur 10 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 14 , , PUNCT , _ 4 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 15 — - PUNCT : _ 20 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 16 that that SCONJ IN _ 20 mark _ _ 17 its its PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 18 nmod:poss _ _ 18 sobs sob NOUN NNS Number=Plur 20 nmod:poss _ _ 19 and and CCONJ CC _ 18 cc _ _ 20 laughter laughter NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 22 its its PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 23 nmod:poss _ _ 23 songs song NOUN NNS Number=Plur 20 appos _ _ 24 and and CCONJ CC _ 25 cc _ _ 25 shrieks shriek NOUN NNS Number=Plur 23 conj _ _ 26 and and CCONJ CC _ 27 cc _ _ 27 orisons orison NOUN NNS Number=Plur 23 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 29 its its PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 30 nmod:poss _ _ 30 outcries outcry NOUN NNS Number=Plur 20 conj _ _ 31 of of ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 32 delight delight NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 nmod _ _ 33 and and CCONJ CC _ 35 cc _ _ 34 of of ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 35 despair despair NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 37 rise rise VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 20 parataxis _ _ 38 never never ADV RB PronType=Neg 41 advmod _ _ 39 to to ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 40 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 41 hearing hearing NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 obj _ _ 42 of of ADP IN _ 44 case _ _ 43 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 44 det _ _ 44 Immortals Immortal PROPN NNPS Number=Plur 41 nmod _ _ 45 but but CCONJ CC _ 49 cc _ _ 46 as as ADP IN _ 49 case _ _ 47 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 49 det _ _ 48 perfect perfect ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 49 amod _ _ 49 harmony harmony NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 50 …. .. PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present · passive | | sum | | | | music's sobs's laughter and music's outcries of delight and despair but a perfect harmony *obl*; somewhere *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic | | 2 | **is a** | present | human life | the music | | | | of the Gods | tree rules | | 3 | **rise** | infinitive | | the hearing of the Immortals | | | | | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location hearing=Theme | | 4 | **sob** | | music | | | | | | nom sob «state intransitive»: poss=agent | | 5 | **sing** | | music | | | | | | nom song «communication intransitive»: poss=agent | | 6 | **outcry** | | music | delight and despair | | | | | nom outcry «communication transitive»: poss=agent of=patient | | 7 | **hear** | | the Immortals | | | | | | nom hearing «act intransitive»: of=agent | 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:** «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. - ← previous: [sentence 188](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/27/188/) - next →: [sentence 190](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/27/190/) - ↑ back to [Story of a Tengu\[1\]](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/27/)