Kaffir folk-lore, Opening, sentence 22

This is perhaps not so much on account of the evening being the most convenient time, as because such tales as these have most effect when told to an assemblage gathered round a fire circle, when night has spread her mantle over the earth, and when the belief in the supernatural is stronger than it is by day.

Who acts: This, such tales, belief · What happens: not be, be, have, tell, gather, spread · To what, where: account, convenient time, most effect, assemblage, night, earth · Speech: someone speaks here

This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Opening. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (This, such tales, belief), 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

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	This	this	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	8 account	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 account	cop
3	perhaps	perhaps	ADV	_	8 account	advmod
4	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	8 account	advmod
5	so	so	ADV	_	6 much	advmod
6	much	much	ADV	_	8 account	advmod
7	on	on	ADP	_	8 account	case
8	account	account	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 evening	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 evening	det
11	evening	evening	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 time	obl
12	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	16 time	cop
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 time	det
14	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	15 convenient	advmod
15	convenient	convenient	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 time	amod
16	time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 account	obl:unmarked
17	,	,	PUNCT	_	24 have	punct
18	as	as	SCONJ	_	24 have	mark
19	because	because	SCONJ	_	24 have	mark
20	such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos	21 tales	amod
21	tales	tale	NOUN	Number=Plur	24 have	nsubj
22	as	as	ADP	_	23 these	case
23	these	this	PRON	Number=Plur PronType=Dem	21 tales	nmod
24	have	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	16 time	parataxis
25	most	most	ADJ	Degree=Sup	26 effect	amod
26	effect	effect	NOUN	Number=Sing	24 have	obj
27	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	28 told	advmod
28	told	tell	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	24 have	advcl
29	to	to	ADP	_	31 assemblage	case
30	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	31 assemblage	det
31	assemblage	assemblage	NOUN	Number=Sing	28 told	obl
32	gathered	gather	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	31 assemblage	acl
33	round	round	ADP	_	36 circle	case
34	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	36 circle	det
35	fire	fire	NOUN	Number=Sing	36 circle	compound
36	circle	circle	NOUN	Number=Sing	32 gathered	obl
37	,	,	PUNCT	_	41 spread	punct
38	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	41 spread	advmod
39	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	41 spread	nsubj:pass
40	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	41 spread	aux
41	spread	spread	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	31 assemblage	acl
42	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	43 mantle	nmod:poss
43	mantle	mantle	NOUN	Number=Sing	41 spread	obj
44	over	over	ADP	_	46 earth	case
45	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	46 earth	det
46	earth	earth	NOUN	Number=Sing	41 spread	obl
47	,	,	PUNCT	_	56 stronger	punct
48	and	and	CCONJ	_	56 stronger	cc
49	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	56 stronger	advmod
50	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	51 belief	det
51	belief	belief	NOUN	Number=Sing	56 stronger	nsubj
52	in	in	ADP	_	54 supernatural	case
53	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	54 supernatural	det
54	supernatural	supernatural	NOUN	Number=Sing	51 belief	nmod
55	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	56 stronger	cop
56	stronger	strong	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	24 have	parataxis
57	than	than	ADP	_	61 day	case
58	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	61 day	nsubj
59	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	61 day	cop
60	by	by	ADP	_	61 day	case
61	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	56 stronger	obl
62	.	.	PUNCT	_	8 account	punct

Pragmatics

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not is	present	This			account		perhaps property	tree rules
2	is a	gerund		the convenient time			evening		tree rules
3	have	present	such tales as these	most effect					vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent effect=Patient
4	tell speech: assert	participle	such tales as these not said here		a assemblage				vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient how S»: agent=Agent to assemblage=Recipient
5	gather	participle		a assemblage not said here				round a fire circle	vn herd-47.5.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme
6	spread	present · perfect · passive		night		the earth		LOWREY's mantle obj	tree rules
7	is	present	the belief in the supernatural					strong property	tree rules
8	is	present	belief				than day		tree rules

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: «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Project Gutenberg book 71335 (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/pg71335/1/22/

🌲 Kaffir folk-lore, Opening, sentence 22

The tree

Pragmatics

Kaffir folk-lore, Opening, sentence 22