---
title: Could we know the sensations of a dog,—the emotions and the ideas of… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: Could we know the sensations of a dog,—the emotions and the ideas of a dog, we might discover some strange correspondence between their character and the character of that peculiar disquiet which the howl of the creature evokes. Who acts: we, howl, creature. A sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafca
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Names of Incense Used., part 7, sentence 28

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Could we know the sensations of a dog,—the emotions and the ideas of a dog, we might discover some strange correspondence between their character and the character of that peculiar disquiet which the howl of the creature evokes.

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**Who acts:** we, howl, creature · **What happens:** know, discover, evoke, sense, howl · **To what, where:** sensations, strange correspondence, character, dog

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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 (we, howl, creature), 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:pg8128:9:28
# text = Could we know the sensations of a dog,—the emotions and the ideas of a dog, we might discover some strange correspondence between their character and the character of that peculiar disquiet which the howl of the creature evokes.
1	Could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
2	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	sensations	sensation	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	emotions	emotion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	parataxis	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	ideas	idea	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	conj	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	discover	discover	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	conj	_	_
23	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	25	det	_	_
24	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	correspondence	correspondence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
26	between	between	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	character	character	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	character	character	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	conj	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	34	det	_	_
34	peculiar	peculiar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod	_	_
35	disquiet	disquiet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
36	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	42	obj	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	howl	howl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nsubj	_	_
39	of	of	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	creature	creature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nmod	_	_
42	evokes	evoke	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | could | we | the sensations of a dog |  |  |  | the emotions and the ideas of a dog and the character of that peculiar *parataxis* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer sensation=Stimulus |
| 2 | **discover** | might | we | some strange correspondence |  |  |  | between dogs's character | vn discover-84-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent correspondence=Topic |
| 3 | **evoke** | present | the howl of the creature | the character of that peculiar |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **sense** |  |  | a dog |  |  |  |  | nom sensation «cognition transitive»: of=patient |
| 5 | **howl** |  | the creature |  |  |  |  |  | nom howl «communication intransitive»: of=agent |

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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:** «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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