---
title: But even so-called inanimate matter is self-devouring. — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: But even so-called inanimate matter is self-devouring. A sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Names of Incense Used., part 7, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Names of Incense Used., part 7, sentence 57

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But even so-called inanimate matter is self-devouring.

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**What happens:** call, devour · **To what, where:** inanimate matter · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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: 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:pg8128:9:57
# text = But even so-called inanimate matter is self-devouring.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	even	even	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
3	so	so	SCONJ	IN	_	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	inanimate	inanimate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	matter	matter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod:desc	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
9	self	self	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	devouring	devour	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **call** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **devour** | present · progressive |  | inanimate matter |  |  |  | self *compound* | vn devour-39.4 «NP V NP»: agent=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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