Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Mbulukazi., sentence 19
But one day, when they were big, she went out, and after she was away some time, the boy said to his sister: “Come, let us help our mother by bringing water from the river.”
Who acts: one day, woman, boy, us · What happens: be, go out, say, come, let, help · To what, where: sister, us, mother, water, river · Speech: someone speaks here
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 (one day, woman, boy, us), 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 | But | but | CCONJ | _ | 8 big | cc |
| 2 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 3 day | nummod |
| 3 | day | day | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 big | nsubj |
| 4 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 3 day | punct |
| 5 | when | when | SCONJ | _ | 8 big | mark |
| 6 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 8 big | nsubj |
| 7 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 big | cop |
| 8 | big | big | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 11 went | punct |
| 10 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 11 went | nsubj |
| 11 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 big | parataxis |
| 12 | out | out | ADP | _ | 11 went | compound:prt |
| 13 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 18 away | punct |
| 14 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 18 away | cc |
| 15 | after | after | SCONJ | _ | 18 away | mark |
| 16 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 18 away | nsubj |
| 17 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 18 away | cop |
| 18 | away | away | ADV | _ | 11 went | conj |
| 19 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 20 time | det |
| 20 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 said | obl:unmarked |
| 21 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 time | punct |
| 22 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 23 boy | det |
| 23 | boy | boy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 said | nsubj |
| 24 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 18 away | parataxis |
| 25 | to | to | ADP | _ | 27 sister | case |
| 26 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 27 sister | nmod:poss |
| 27 | sister | sister | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 said | obl |
| 28 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 30 Come | punct |
| 29 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 30 Come | punct |
| 30 | Come | come | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 24 said | parataxis |
| 31 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 32 let | punct |
| 32 | let | let | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 30 Come | conj |
| 33 | us | we | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 32 let | obj |
| 34 | help | help | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 32 let | xcomp |
| 35 | our | our | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 36 mother | nmod:poss |
| 36 | mother | mother | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 help | obj |
| 37 | by | by | SCONJ | _ | 38 bringing | mark |
| 38 | bringing | bring | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 34 help | advcl |
| 39 | water | water | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 bringing | obj |
| 40 | from | from | ADP | _ | 42 river | case |
| 41 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 42 river | det |
| 42 | river | river | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 bringing | obl |
| 43 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 8 big | punct |
| 44 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 8 big | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | one day | children = child nsubj; big property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | go out | past | woman | vn interact-36.6 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 3 | is | past | woman | away property | tree rules | ||||
| 4 | say speech: assert | past | the boy | boy's sister | time | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to sister=Recipient clause=Topic | |||
| 5 | come in a quote | infinitive | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||||
| 6 | let in a quote | infinitive | us | tree rules | |||||
| 7 | help in a quote | infinitive | us not said here | our mother | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mother=Beneficiary | ||||
| 8 | bring in a quote | gerund | us not said here | water | the river | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.initial_location»: agent=Agent water=Theme from river=Initial_Location |
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/pg71335/17/19/