Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Mbulukazi., sentence 21
The young chief was called Broad Breast, because his chest was very wide, and it was also made of a glittering metal that shone in the sun. These men asked for water to drink.
Who acts: chest, glittering metal, men · What happens: call, be, make, glitter, shine, ask · To what, where: young chief, chief, sun. · 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 (chest, glittering metal, men), 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 | 3 chief | det |
| 2 | young | young | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 chief | amod |
| 3 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 called | nsubj:pass |
| 4 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 called | aux:pass |
| 5 | called | call | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 6 | Broad | Broad | PROPN | Number=Sing | 5 called | xcomp |
| 7 | Breast | Breast | PROPN | Number=Sing | 6 Broad | flat |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 14 wide | punct |
| 9 | because | because | SCONJ | _ | 14 wide | mark |
| 10 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 11 chest | nmod:poss |
| 11 | chest | chest | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 wide | nsubj |
| 12 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 14 wide | cop |
| 13 | very | very | ADV | _ | 14 wide | advmod |
| 14 | wide | wide | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 called | parataxis |
| 15 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 made | punct |
| 16 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 20 made | cc |
| 17 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 20 made | nsubj:pass |
| 18 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 20 made | aux:pass |
| 19 | also | also | ADV | _ | 20 made | advmod |
| 20 | made | make | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 5 called | advcl |
| 21 | of | of | ADP | _ | 24 metal | case |
| 22 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 24 metal | det |
| 23 | glittering | glitter | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 24 metal | amod |
| 24 | metal | metal | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 made | obl |
| 25 | that | that | PRON | PronType=Rel | 26 shone | nsubj |
| 26 | shone | shine | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 24 metal | acl:relcl |
| 27 | in | in | ADP | _ | 29 sun. | case |
| 28 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 29 sun. | det |
| 29 | sun. | sun. | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 shone | obl |
| 30 | These | this | DET | Number=Plur PronType=Dem | 31 men | det |
| 31 | men | man | NOUN | Number=Plur | 32 asked | nsubj |
| 32 | asked | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 26 shone | parataxis |
| 33 | for | for | ADP | _ | 34 water | case |
| 34 | water | water | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 asked | obl |
| 35 | to | to | PART | _ | 36 drink | mark |
| 36 | drink | drink | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 32 asked | xcomp |
| 37 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 called | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | call speech: assert | past · passive | the young chief | Broad xcomp | vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient | ||||
| 2 | is | past | Broad's chest | wide property | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | make | past · passive | chief | of a glittering metal | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product | ||||
| 4 | glitter | gerund | vn light_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||||
| 5 | shine | past | a glittering metal | the sun. | vn light_emission-43.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in sun.=Location | ||||
| 6 | ask speech: ask | past | this men | for water | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | ||||
| 7 | drink not said to happen | to-infinitive | this men not said here | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=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.
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