Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Hlakanyana., sentence 217
He said to them: “You foolish boys, you only suck the goats, you don’t milk them in any vessel; why don’t you ask me to lend you this pot?”
Who acts: Hlakanyana, birds · What happens: say, boy, suck, do, not ask, lend · To what, where: birds, goats, milk, vessel, Hlakanyana, pot · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Hlakanyana.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Hlakanyana, birds), 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 | He | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 2 said | nsubj |
| 2 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | to | to | ADP | _ | 4 them | case |
| 4 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 2 said | obl |
| 5 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 9 boys | punct |
| 6 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 9 boys | punct |
| 7 | You | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 9 boys | nsubj |
| 8 | foolish | foolish | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 9 boys | amod |
| 9 | boys | boy | NOUN | Number=Plur | 2 said | parataxis |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 13 suck | punct |
| 11 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 13 suck | nsubj |
| 12 | only | only | ADV | _ | 13 suck | advmod |
| 13 | suck | suck | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 9 boys | conj |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 15 goats | det |
| 15 | goats | goat | NOUN | Number=Plur | 13 suck | obj |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 18 do | punct |
| 17 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 18 do | nsubj |
| 18 | do | do | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 9 boys | parataxis |
| 19 | n’t | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 20 milk | advmod |
| 20 | milk | milk | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 do | obj |
| 21 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 18 do | obj |
| 22 | in | in | ADP | _ | 24 vessel | case |
| 23 | any | any | DET | PronType=Ind | 24 vessel | det |
| 24 | vessel | vessel | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 do | obl |
| 25 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 30 ask | punct |
| 26 | why | why | ADV | PronType=Int | 30 ask | advmod |
| 27 | do | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 30 ask | aux |
| 28 | n’t | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 30 ask | advmod |
| 29 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 30 ask | nsubj |
| 30 | ask | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 2 said | conj |
| 31 | me | I | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 30 ask | iobj |
| 32 | to | to | PART | _ | 33 lend | mark |
| 33 | lend | lend | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 30 ask | xcomp |
| 34 | you | you | PRON | Case=Acc Person=2 PronType=Prs | 33 lend | obj |
| 35 | this | this | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 36 pot | det |
| 36 | pot | pot | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 lend | obj |
| 37 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 2 said | punct |
| 38 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 2 said | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: ask | past | Hlakanyana | birds = bird | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to they=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 2 | boy in a quote | birds = bird | tree rules | ||||||
| 3 | suck in a quote | present | birds = bird | the goats | vn wipe_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent goat=Source | ||||
| 4 | do in a quote | present | birds = bird | milk | any vessel | goats = goat obj | tree rules | ||
| 5 | not ask speech: ask in a quote | present · do-support | birds = bird | Hlakanyana | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S_INF»: agent=Agent i=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 6 | lend not said to happen, in a quote | to-infinitive | birds = bird not said here | this pot | birds = bird | vn give-13.1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent you=Recipient pot=Theme |
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/pg71335/10/217/