Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Mbulukazi., sentence 25
The chief, who was very rich, gave his son many fine cattle, with which the young man went to the girl’s mother’s husband, and said: “I want to marry your daughter.”
Who acts: chief, young man, I · What happens: be, give, go, say, want, marry · To what, where: many fine cattle, son, daughter · 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 (chief, young man, I), 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 chief | det |
| 2 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 gave | nsubj |
| 3 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 7 rich | punct |
| 4 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 7 rich | nsubj |
| 5 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 rich | cop |
| 6 | very | very | ADV | _ | 7 rich | advmod |
| 7 | rich | rich | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 2 chief | acl:relcl |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 2 chief | punct |
| 9 | gave | give | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 10 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 11 son | nmod:poss |
| 11 | son | son | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 gave | iobj |
| 12 | many | many | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 14 cattle | amod |
| 13 | fine | fine | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 14 cattle | amod |
| 14 | cattle | cattle | NOUN | Number=Plur | 9 gave | obj |
| 15 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 21 went | punct |
| 16 | with | with | ADP | _ | 17 which | case |
| 17 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 21 went | obl |
| 18 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 man | det |
| 19 | young | young | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 20 man | amod |
| 20 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 went | nsubj |
| 21 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 gave | conj |
| 22 | to | to | ADP | _ | 28 husband | case |
| 23 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 24 girl | det |
| 24 | girl | girl | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 mother | nmod:poss |
| 25 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 24 girl | case |
| 26 | mother | mother | NOUN | Number=Sing | 28 husband | nmod:poss |
| 27 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 26 mother | case |
| 28 | husband | husband | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 went | obl |
| 29 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 31 said | punct |
| 30 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 31 said | cc |
| 31 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 gave | parataxis |
| 32 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 35 want | punct |
| 33 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 35 want | punct |
| 34 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 35 want | nsubj |
| 35 | want | want | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 31 said | ccomp |
| 36 | to | to | PART | _ | 37 marry | mark |
| 37 | marry | marry | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 35 want | xcomp |
| 38 | your | your | PRON | Case=Gen Person=2 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 39 daughter | nmod:poss |
| 39 | daughter | daughter | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 marry | obj |
| 40 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 31 said | punct |
| 41 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 9 gave | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | the chief | rich property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | give | past | the chief | many fine cattle | boy's son | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent son=Recipient cattle=Theme | |||
| 3 | go | past | the young man | to the girl's mother's husband; which obl | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to husband=Initial_Location | ||||
| 4 | say speech: assert | past | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | ||||||
| 5 | want in a quote | present | I | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | |||||
| 6 | marry not said to happen, in a quote | to-infinitive | I not said here | your daughter | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent daughter=Patient |
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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