Kaffir folk-lore, Story of Ironside and His Sister., sentence 4
As the birds were carrying her away, she called to her mother, who took no notice of her cries, because she could not imagine her child was being carried away.
Who acts: birds, child, mother · What happens: carry away, call, take, not imagine, notice, cry · To what, where: child, mother, notice, cries · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of Ironside and His Sister.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (birds, child, mother), 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 | As | as | SCONJ | _ | 5 carrying | mark |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 birds | det |
| 3 | birds | bird | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 carrying | nsubj |
| 4 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 carrying | aux |
| 5 | carrying | carry | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 10 called | advcl |
| 6 | her | she | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 carrying | obj |
| 7 | away | away | ADV | _ | 5 carrying | advmod |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 5 carrying | punct |
| 9 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 10 called | nsubj |
| 10 | called | call | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 11 | to | to | ADP | _ | 13 mother | case |
| 12 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 13 mother | nmod:poss |
| 13 | mother | mother | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 called | obl |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 16 took | punct |
| 15 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 16 took | nsubj |
| 16 | took | take | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 13 mother | acl:relcl |
| 17 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 18 notice | det |
| 18 | notice | notice | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 took | obj |
| 19 | of | of | ADP | _ | 21 cries | case |
| 20 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 21 cries | nmod:poss |
| 21 | cries | cry | NOUN | Number=Plur | 18 notice | nmod |
| 22 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 27 imagine | punct |
| 23 | because | because | SCONJ | _ | 27 imagine | mark |
| 24 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 27 imagine | nsubj |
| 25 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 27 imagine | aux |
| 26 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 27 imagine | advmod |
| 27 | imagine | imagine | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 16 took | conj |
| 28 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 29 child | nmod:poss |
| 29 | child | child | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 carried | nsubj:pass |
| 30 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 32 carried | aux:pass |
| 31 | being | be | AUX | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 32 carried | aux:pass |
| 32 | carried | carry | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 27 imagine | parataxis |
| 33 | away | away | ADV | _ | 32 carried | advmod |
| 34 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 10 called | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | carry away | past · progressive | the birds | child | away property | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Theme | |||
| 2 | call | past | child | child's mother | vn animal_sounds-38 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to mother=Recipient | ||||
| 3 | take | past | child's mother | no notice of child's cries | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent notice=Theme | ||||
| 4 | not imagine | could | child | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot | |||||
| 5 | carry away | past · passive | child's child | away property | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | ||||
| 6 | notice | child's cries | nom notice «communication transitive»: of=patient | ||||||
| 7 | cry | child | nom cry «communication intransitive»: poss=agent |
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/pg71335/13/4/