Kaffir folk-lore, Opening, sentence 39
For this I can claim to be qualified by an intimate knowledge of the Kaffir people, gained through intercourse with them during a period of twenty years, and while filling positions among them varying from a mission teacher to a border magistrate.
Who acts: I, intimate knowledge · What happens: claim, qualify, gain, fill, vary · To what, where: Kaffir people, intercourse, positions
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 (I, intimate knowledge), 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 | For | for | ADP | _ | 2 this | case |
| 2 | this | this | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 5 claim | obl |
| 3 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 5 claim | nsubj |
| 4 | can | can | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 5 claim | aux |
| 5 | claim | claim | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 6 | to | to | PART | _ | 8 qualified | mark |
| 7 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 8 qualified | aux:pass |
| 8 | qualified | qualify | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 5 claim | xcomp |
| 9 | by | by | ADP | _ | 12 knowledge | case |
| 10 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 12 knowledge | det |
| 11 | intimate | intimate | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 12 knowledge | amod |
| 12 | knowledge | knowledge | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 qualified | obl |
| 13 | of | of | ADP | _ | 16 people | case |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 16 people | det |
| 15 | Kaffir | Kaffir | PROPN | Number=Sing | 16 people | compound |
| 16 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 12 knowledge | nmod |
| 17 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 18 gained | punct |
| 18 | gained | gain | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 16 people | acl |
| 19 | through | through | ADP | _ | 20 intercourse | case |
| 20 | intercourse | intercourse | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 gained | obl |
| 21 | with | with | ADP | _ | 22 them | case |
| 22 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 20 intercourse | nmod |
| 23 | during | during | ADP | _ | 25 period | case |
| 24 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 25 period | det |
| 25 | period | period | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 gained | obl |
| 26 | of | of | ADP | _ | 28 years | case |
| 27 | twenty | twenty | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 28 years | nummod |
| 28 | years | year | NOUN | Number=Plur | 25 period | nmod |
| 29 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 32 filling | punct |
| 30 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 32 filling | cc |
| 31 | while | while | SCONJ | _ | 32 filling | mark |
| 32 | filling | fill | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 5 claim | advcl |
| 33 | positions | position | NOUN | Number=Plur | 32 filling | obj |
| 34 | among | among | ADP | _ | 35 them | case |
| 35 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 32 filling | obl |
| 36 | varying | vary | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 32 filling | advcl |
| 37 | from | from | ADP | _ | 40 teacher | case |
| 38 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 40 teacher | det |
| 39 | mission | mission | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 teacher | compound |
| 40 | teacher | teacher | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 varying | obl |
| 41 | to | to | ADP | _ | 44 magistrate | case |
| 42 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 44 magistrate | det |
| 43 | border | border | NOUN | Number=Sing | 44 magistrate | compound |
| 44 | magistrate | magistrate | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 varying | obl |
| 45 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 claim | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | claim speech: other | can | I | for this | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | ||||
| 2 | qualify | to-infinitive · passive | a intimate knowledge of the Kaffir people | vn masquerade-29.6 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 3 | gain | participle | the Kaffir people not said here | intercourse with PEOPLE | during a period of twenty years | vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | |||
| 4 | fill | gerund | I not said here | positions | among positions = position | vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent position=Patient | |||
| 5 | vary | gerund | I not said here | from a mission teacher; to a border magistrate result | vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP.patient V PP.extent PP.initial_state PP.result»: agent=Patient from teacher=Initial_State to magistrate=Result |
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.
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