Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings, VII. the Phonograph, sentence 1
"UNC REMUS," asked a tall, awkward-looking negro, who was one of a crowd surrounding the old man, "w'at's dish 'ere w'at dey calls de fonygraf--dish yer inst'ument w'at kin holler 'roun' like little chillun in de back yard?"
Who acts: UNC, tall looking negro, crowd, ere w'at dey · What happens: ask, look, be, surround, call · To what, where: tall looking negro, one, old man, de fonygraf · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings» by Joel Chandler Harris, VII. the Phonograph. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (UNC, tall looking negro, crowd, ere w'at dey), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.
Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher. This tree is Mova's own parse (the en model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong.
The tree
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 2 UNC | punct |
| 2 | UNC | UNC | PROPN | Number=Sing | 6 asked | nsubj |
| 3 | REMUS | REMUS | PROPN | Number=Sing | 2 UNC | flat |
| 4 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 2 UNC | punct |
| 5 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 6 asked | punct |
| 6 | asked | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 7 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 13 negro | det |
| 8 | tall | tall | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 13 negro | amod |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 8 tall | punct |
| 10 | awkward | awkward | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 12 looking | compound |
| 11 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 10 awkward | punct |
| 12 | looking | look | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 13 negro | amod |
| 13 | negro | negro | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 asked | obj |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 17 one | punct |
| 15 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 17 one | nsubj |
| 16 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 17 one | cop |
| 17 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 13 negro | appos |
| 18 | of | of | ADP | _ | 20 crowd | case |
| 19 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 20 crowd | det |
| 20 | crowd | crowd | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 one | nmod |
| 21 | surrounding | surround | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 20 crowd | acl |
| 22 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 24 man | det |
| 23 | old | old | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 24 man | amod |
| 24 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 surrounding | obj |
| 25 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 34 calls | punct |
| 26 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 29 dish | punct |
| 27 | w'at | w'at | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 dish | nmod:poss |
| 28 | 's | 's | PART | _ | 27 w'at | case |
| 29 | dish | dish | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 calls | advcl |
| 30 | ' | ' | PUNCT | _ | 34 calls | punct |
| 31 | ere | ere | X | _ | 33 dey | compound |
| 32 | w'at | w'at | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 dey | compound |
| 33 | dey | dey | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 calls | nsubj |
| 34 | calls | call | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 6 asked | parataxis |
| 35 | de | de | X | Foreign=Yes | 36 fonygraf | compound |
| 36 | fonygraf | fonygraf | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 calls | obj |
| 37 | -- | -- | PUNCT | _ | 38 dish | punct |
| 38 | dish | dish | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 fonygraf | conj |
| 39 | yer | y | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 41 w'at | amod |
| 40 | inst'ument | inst'ument | NOUN | Number=Sing | 41 w'at | compound |
| 41 | w'at | w'at | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 dish | appos |
| 42 | kin | kin | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 43 holler | amod |
| 43 | holler | holler | NOUN | Number=Sing | 41 w'at | conj |
| 44 | ' | ' | PUNCT | _ | 45 roun | punct |
| 45 | roun | roun | NOUN | Number=Sing | 43 holler | appos |
| 46 | ' | ' | PUNCT | _ | 45 roun | punct |
| 47 | like | like | ADP | _ | 49 chillun | case |
| 48 | little | little | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 49 chillun | amod |
| 49 | chillun | chillun | NOUN | Number=Sing | 41 w'at | nmod |
| 50 | in | in | ADP | _ | 51 de | case |
| 51 | de | de | NOUN | Number=Sing | 49 chillun | nmod |
| 52 | back | back | ADV | _ | 53 yard | advmod |
| 53 | yard | yard | NOUN | Number=Sing | 49 chillun | nmod |
| 54 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 34 calls | punct |
| 55 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 34 calls | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ask speech: ask | past | UNC | a tall looking negro | vn urge-58.1-1-1 «NP V NP that S»: agent=Agent negro=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 2 | look | gerund | vn stimulus_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus | ||||||
| 3 | is a | past | a tall looking negro | one | of a crowd | tree rules | |||
| 4 | surround | gerund | a crowd not said here | the old man | vn contiguous_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme man=Co-Theme | ||||
| 5 | call in a quote | present | ere w'at dey | de fonygraf and dish | vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent fonygraf=Recipient |
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: «Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings» by Joel Chandler Harris, Project Gutenberg book 2306 (public domain in the USA). Tree: Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. Frames: Mova's frames reader (prag), the chapter read in order.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2306/53/1/