Kaffir folk-lore, The Runaway Children; Or, the Wonderful Feather., sentence 50
The children, up in the branches, could see a long way off; and as they strained their eyes, they observed three dogs as big as calves, and they knew these dogs belonged to their father, who was seeking for them.
Who acts: children, dogs, father · What happens: see, strain, observe, know, belong, seek · To what, where: long way, eyes, three dogs · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Runaway Children; Or, the Wonderful Feather.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (children, dogs, father), 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 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 children | det |
| 2 | children | child | NOUN | Number=Plur | 10 see | nsubj |
| 3 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 7 branches | punct |
| 4 | up | up | ADV | _ | 7 branches | advmod |
| 5 | in | in | ADP | _ | 7 branches | case |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 branches | det |
| 7 | branches | branch | NOUN | Number=Plur | 2 children | conj |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 2 children | punct |
| 9 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 10 see | aux |
| 10 | see | see | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 11 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 13 way | det |
| 12 | long | long | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 13 way | amod |
| 13 | way | way | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 see | obj |
| 14 | off | off | ADV | _ | 10 see | advmod |
| 15 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 24 observed | punct |
| 16 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 24 observed | cc |
| 17 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 19 strained | mark |
| 18 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 19 strained | nsubj |
| 19 | strained | strain | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 24 observed | advcl |
| 20 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 21 eyes | nmod:poss |
| 21 | eyes | eye | NOUN | Number=Plur | 19 strained | obj |
| 22 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 19 strained | punct |
| 23 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 24 observed | nsubj |
| 24 | observed | observe | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 10 see | parataxis |
| 25 | three | three | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 26 dogs | nummod |
| 26 | dogs | dog | NOUN | Number=Plur | 24 observed | obj |
| 27 | as | as | ADV | _ | 28 big | advmod |
| 28 | big | big | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 24 observed | xcomp |
| 29 | as | as | ADP | _ | 30 calves | case |
| 30 | calves | calf | NOUN | Number=Plur | 28 big | obl |
| 31 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 34 knew | punct |
| 32 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 34 knew | cc |
| 33 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 34 knew | nsubj |
| 34 | knew | know | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 24 observed | parataxis |
| 35 | these | this | DET | Number=Plur PronType=Dem | 36 dogs | det |
| 36 | dogs | dog | NOUN | Number=Plur | 37 belonged | nsubj |
| 37 | belonged | belong | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 34 knew | ccomp |
| 38 | to | to | ADP | _ | 40 father | case |
| 39 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 40 father | nmod:poss |
| 40 | father | father | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 belonged | obl |
| 41 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 44 seeking | punct |
| 42 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 44 seeking | nsubj |
| 43 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 44 seeking | aux |
| 44 | seeking | seek | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 40 father | acl |
| 45 | for | for | ADP | _ | 46 them | case |
| 46 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 44 seeking | obl |
| 47 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 10 see | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | see | could | the children and the branches | a long way | off property | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer way=Stimulus | |||
| 2 | strain | past | children = child | children's eyes | vn wipe_manner-10.4.1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent eye=Source | ||||
| 3 | observe | past | children = child | three dogs | big property | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent dog=Topic | |||
| 4 | know | past | children = child | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | |||||
| 5 | belong | past | this dogs | to dogs's father | vn attend-107.4-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 6 | seek | past · progressive | dogs's father | for dogs = dog | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V PP.theme PP.location»: agent=Agent for they=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/pg71335/12/50/