Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 1
In South Africa the word Kaffir is often used in a general way to signify any black native who is not the descendant of an imported slave, but on the eastern frontier of the Cape Colony the term is usually restricted to a member of the Amaxosa tribe.
Who acts: black native · What happens: use, signify, not be, import, restrict · To what, where: word, South Africa, black native, descendant, term, eastern frontier
This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (black native), 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 | In | in | ADP | _ | 3 Africa | case |
| 2 | South | South | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 Africa | compound |
| 3 | Africa | Africa | PROPN | Number=Sing | 9 used | obl |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 word | det |
| 5 | word | word | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 used | nsubj:pass |
| 6 | Kaffir | Kaffir | PROPN | Number=Sing | 5 word | appos |
| 7 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 9 used | aux:pass |
| 8 | often | often | ADV | _ | 9 used | advmod |
| 9 | used | use | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 10 | in | in | ADP | _ | 13 way | case |
| 11 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 13 way | det |
| 12 | general | general | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 13 way | amod |
| 13 | way | way | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 used | obl |
| 14 | to | to | PART | _ | 15 signify | mark |
| 15 | signify | signify | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 9 used | advcl |
| 16 | any | any | DET | PronType=Ind | 18 native | det |
| 17 | black | black | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 18 native | amod |
| 18 | native | native | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 signify | obj |
| 19 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 23 descendant | nsubj |
| 20 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 23 descendant | cop |
| 21 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 23 descendant | advmod |
| 22 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 23 descendant | det |
| 23 | descendant | descendant | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 native | acl:relcl |
| 24 | of | of | ADP | _ | 27 slave | case |
| 25 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 27 slave | det |
| 26 | imported | import | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 27 slave | amod |
| 27 | slave | slave | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 descendant | nmod |
| 28 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 42 restricted | punct |
| 29 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 42 restricted | cc |
| 30 | on | on | ADP | _ | 33 frontier | case |
| 31 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 33 frontier | det |
| 32 | eastern | eastern | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 33 frontier | amod |
| 33 | frontier | frontier | NOUN | Number=Sing | 42 restricted | obl |
| 34 | of | of | ADP | _ | 37 Colony | case |
| 35 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 37 Colony | det |
| 36 | Cape | Cape | PROPN | Number=Sing | 37 Colony | compound |
| 37 | Colony | Colony | PROPN | Number=Sing | 33 frontier | nmod |
| 38 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 39 term | det |
| 39 | term | term | NOUN | Number=Sing | 42 restricted | nsubj:pass |
| 40 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 42 restricted | aux:pass |
| 41 | usually | usually | ADV | _ | 42 restricted | advmod |
| 42 | restricted | restrict | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 9 used | conj |
| 43 | to | to | ADP | _ | 45 member | case |
| 44 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 45 member | det |
| 45 | member | member | NOUN | Number=Sing | 42 restricted | obl |
| 46 | of | of | ADP | _ | 49 tribe | case |
| 47 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 49 tribe | det |
| 48 | Amaxosa | Amaxosa | PROPN | Number=Sing | 49 tribe | compound |
| 49 | tribe | tribe | NOUN | Number=Sing | 45 member | nmod |
| 50 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 9 used | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | use | present · passive | the word | South Africa | in a general way; often property | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient | |||
| 2 | signify | to-infinitive | any black native | vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot native=Theme | |||||
| 3 | not is a | present | any black native | the descendant | of a imported slave | tree rules | |||
| 4 | import | participle | vn send-11.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | ||||||
| 5 | restrict | present · passive | the term | the eastern frontier of the Cape Colony | to a member of the Amaxosa tribe goal; usually property | vn limit-76 «NP V NP S_ING»: subject=Patient to member=Goal |
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/pg71335/2/1/