Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Kenkebe., sentence 68
So he called his two dogs, and said to the one: “Tumtumse, my dog, if I kill this calf, will you imitate it and suck the eland for me?”
Who acts: Tumtumse, you · What happens: call, say, kill, imitate, suck · To what, where: two dogs, one, calf, eland · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Kenkebe.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Tumtumse, you), 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 | So | so | ADV | _ | 3 called | advmod |
| 2 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 called | nsubj |
| 3 | called | call | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 6 dogs | nmod:poss |
| 5 | two | two | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 6 dogs | nummod |
| 6 | dogs | dog | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 called | obj |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 9 said | punct |
| 8 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 9 said | cc |
| 9 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 called | conj |
| 10 | to | to | ADP | _ | 12 one | case |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 one | det |
| 12 | one | one | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 said | obl |
| 13 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 15 Tumtumse | punct |
| 14 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 15 Tumtumse | punct |
| 15 | Tumtumse | tumtumse | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 one | appos |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 18 dog | punct |
| 17 | my | my | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 18 dog | nmod:poss |
| 18 | dog | dog | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 Tumtumse | conj |
| 19 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 22 kill | punct |
| 20 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 22 kill | mark |
| 21 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 22 kill | nsubj |
| 22 | kill | kill | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 9 said | ccomp |
| 23 | this | this | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 24 calf | det |
| 24 | calf | calf | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 kill | obj |
| 25 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 28 imitate | punct |
| 26 | will | will | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 28 imitate | aux |
| 27 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 28 imitate | nsubj |
| 28 | imitate | imitate | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 22 kill | conj |
| 29 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 28 imitate | obj |
| 30 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 31 suck | cc |
| 31 | suck | suck | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 28 imitate | conj |
| 32 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 33 eland | det |
| 33 | eland | eland | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 suck | obj |
| 34 | for | for | ADP | _ | 35 me | case |
| 35 | me | I | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 31 suck | obl |
| 36 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 3 called | punct |
| 37 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 3 called | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | call | past | Tumtumse | Tumtumse's two dogs | vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent dog=Recipient | ||||
| 2 | say speech: ask | past | Tumtumse not said here | the one | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to one=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 3 | kill a condition, not said to happen, in a quote | present | Tumtumse | this calf | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent calf=Theme | ||||
| 4 | imitate in a quote | future | you | calf | vn patent-101 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme | ||||
| 5 | suck in a quote | infinitive | you not said here | the eland | for Tumtumse | vn wipe_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent eland=Source |
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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