---
title: It begins with a stifled moan, like the moan of a bad dream,—mounts… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: It begins with a stifled moan, like the moan of a bad dream,—mounts into a long, long wail, like a wailing of wind,—sinks quavering into a chuckle,—rises again to a wail, very much higher and wilder than before,—breaks suddenly into a kind of atrocious laughter,—and finally sobs itself out in a plai
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Names of Incense Used., part 7, sentence 14

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It begins with a stifled moan, like the moan of a bad dream,—mounts into a long, long wail, like a wailing of wind,—sinks quavering into a chuckle,—rises again to a wail, very much higher and wilder than before,—breaks suddenly into a kind of atrocious laughter,—and finally sobs itself out in a plaint like the crying of a little child.

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**Who acts:** howl, sinks, bad dream, wind · **What happens:** begin, stifle, quaver, rise, sob out, moan · **To what, where:** long long wail, chuckle, breaks, wail, howl, plaint

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This is a sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Names of Incense Used., 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 (howl, sinks, bad dream, wind), 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:pg8128:9:14
# text = It begins with a stifled moan, like the moan of a bad dream,—mounts into a long, long wail, like a wailing of wind,—sinks quavering into a chuckle,—rises again to a wail, very much higher and wilder than before,—breaks suddenly into a kind of atrocious laughter,—and finally sobs itself out in a plaint like the crying of a little child.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	begins	begin	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	with	with	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	stifled	stifle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	amod	_	_
6	moan	moan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	like	like	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	moan	moan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	appos	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	dream	dream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	mounts	mount	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	conj	_	_
18	into	into	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
20	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
22	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	wail	wail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	like	like	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	wailing	wailing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	appos	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	32	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	sinks	sink	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	parataxis	_	_
33	quavering	quaver	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	32	acl	_	_
34	into	into	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	chuckle	chuckle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	39	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	rises	rise	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	32	conj	_	_
40	again	again	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
41	to	to	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	wail	wail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
45	very	very	ADV	RB	_	46	advmod	_	_
46	much	much	ADV	RB	_	47	advmod	_	_
47	higher	high	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	39	advcl	_	_
48	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
49	wilder	wild	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	47	conj	_	_
50	than	than	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
51	before	before	ADV	RB	_	47	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	54	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	breaks	break	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	obl	_	_
55	suddenly	suddenly	ADV	RB	_	58	advmod	_	_
56	into	into	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
57	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
58	kind	kind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	nmod	_	_
59	of	of	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
60	atrocious	atrocious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	61	amod	_	_
61	laughter	laughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	66	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	66	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	66	cc	_	_
65	finally	finally	ADV	RB	_	66	advmod	_	_
66	sobs	sob	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	54	conj	_	_
67	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	66	obj	_	_
68	out	out	ADP	RP	_	66	compound:prt	_	_
69	in	in	ADP	IN	_	71	case	_	_
70	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	71	det	_	_
71	plaint	plaint	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	66	obl	_	_
72	like	like	ADP	IN	_	74	case	_	_
73	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	74	det	_	_
74	crying	crying	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	71	nmod	_	_
75	of	of	ADP	IN	_	78	case	_	_
76	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	78	det	_	_
77	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	78	amod	_	_
78	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	74	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
79	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | present | howl |  |  | a long long wail |  | with a stifled moan | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V PP.subeventuality»: agent=Eventuality with moan=Subeventuality |
| 2 | **stifle** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn suffocate-40.7 «NP.theme V»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **quaver** *speech: other* | gerund | sinks *not said here* |  |  | a chuckle |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent into chuckle=Recipient |
| 4 | **rise** | present | howl *not said here* | breaks into a kind of atrocious laughter |  | a wail | again |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to wail=Initial\_Location |
| 5 | **sob out** | present | howl *not said here* | howl |  | a plaint like the crying of a little child |  | finally *property* | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent itself=Theme |
| 6 | **moan** |  | a bad dream and mounts |  |  |  |  |  | nom moan «communication intransitive»: of=agent |
| 7 | **wail** |  | wind |  |  |  |  |  | nom wailing «act intransitive»: of=agent |
| 8 | **cry** |  |  | a little child |  |  |  |  | nom crying «act transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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