Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Mbulukazi., sentence 18
Always before she went to her work she charged them not to go out, and as her husband never came to see her, no one knew of the existence of these children except herself and a servant girl.
Who acts: woman, husband, one, children · What happens: go, charge, not go out, not come, see, know · To what, where: work, children, woman
This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Mbulukazi.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (woman, husband, one, children), 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 | Always | always | ADV | PronType=Tot | 4 went | advmod |
| 2 | before | before | SCONJ | _ | 4 went | mark |
| 3 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 went | nsubj |
| 4 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | to | to | ADP | _ | 7 work | case |
| 6 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 7 work | nmod:poss |
| 7 | work | work | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 went | obl |
| 8 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 9 charged | nsubj |
| 9 | charged | charge | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 went | conj |
| 10 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 9 charged | obj |
| 11 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 13 go | advmod |
| 12 | to | to | PART | _ | 13 go | mark |
| 13 | go | go | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 9 charged | advcl |
| 14 | out | out | ADV | _ | 13 go | advmod |
| 15 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 21 came | punct |
| 16 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 21 came | cc |
| 17 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 21 came | mark |
| 18 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 19 husband | nmod:poss |
| 19 | husband | husband | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 came | nsubj |
| 20 | never | never | ADV | PronType=Neg | 21 came | advmod |
| 21 | came | come | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 went | conj |
| 22 | to | to | PART | _ | 23 see | mark |
| 23 | see | see | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 21 came | advcl |
| 24 | her | she | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 23 see | obj |
| 25 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 28 knew | punct |
| 26 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 27 one | det |
| 27 | one | one | NOUN | Number=Sing | 28 knew | nsubj |
| 28 | knew | know | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 went | parataxis |
| 29 | of | of | ADP | _ | 31 existence | case |
| 30 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 31 existence | det |
| 31 | existence | existence | NOUN | Number=Sing | 28 knew | obl |
| 32 | of | of | ADP | _ | 34 children | case |
| 33 | these | this | DET | Number=Plur PronType=Dem | 34 children | det |
| 34 | children | child | NOUN | Number=Plur | 31 existence | nmod |
| 35 | except | except | ADP | _ | 36 herself | case |
| 36 | herself | herself | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes | 34 children | nmod |
| 37 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 40 girl | cc |
| 38 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 40 girl | det |
| 39 | servant | servant | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 girl | compound |
| 40 | girl | girl | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 herself | conj |
| 41 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 went | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | go | past | woman | woman's work | always property | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to work=Initial_Location | |||
| 2 | charge | past | woman | children = child | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial_Location they=Theme | ||||
| 3 | not go out | to-infinitive | woman not said here | out property | vn interact-36.6 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 4 | not come | past | woman's husband | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 5 | see | to-infinitive | woman's husband not said here | woman | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer she=Stimulus | ||||
| 6 | know | past | no one | of the existence of this children except woman | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer of existence=Stimulus | ||||
| 7 | work | woman | nom work «act intransitive»: poss=agent | ||||||
| 8 | exist | this children except woman | nom existence «state intransitive»: of=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/pg71335/17/18/