Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 135
In olden times, when common people died, their corpses were dragged away to a short distance from the kraal, and there left to be devoured by beasts of prey; but chiefs and great men were interred with much ceremony.
Who acts: common people, beasts · What happens: die, drag away, leave, devour, inter · To what, where: corpses, chiefs
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 (common people, beasts), 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 times | case |
| 2 | olden | olden | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 times | amod |
| 3 | times | time | NOUN | Number=Plur | 8 died | obl |
| 4 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 3 times | punct |
| 5 | when | when | SCONJ | _ | 8 died | mark |
| 6 | common | common | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 people | amod |
| 7 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 8 died | nsubj |
| 8 | died | die | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 13 dragged | punct |
| 10 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 11 corpses | nmod:poss |
| 11 | corpses | corpse | NOUN | Number=Plur | 13 dragged | nsubj:pass |
| 12 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 13 dragged | aux:pass |
| 13 | dragged | drag | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 8 died | conj |
| 14 | away | away | ADV | _ | 13 dragged | advmod |
| 15 | to | to | ADP | _ | 18 distance | case |
| 16 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 18 distance | det |
| 17 | short | short | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 18 distance | amod |
| 18 | distance | distance | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 dragged | obl |
| 19 | from | from | ADP | _ | 21 kraal | case |
| 20 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 21 kraal | det |
| 21 | kraal | kraal | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 distance | nmod |
| 22 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 25 left | punct |
| 23 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 25 left | cc |
| 24 | there | there | ADV | PronType=Dem | 25 left | advmod |
| 25 | left | leave | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 13 dragged | conj |
| 26 | to | to | PART | _ | 28 devoured | mark |
| 27 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 28 devoured | aux:pass |
| 28 | devoured | devour | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 25 left | xcomp |
| 29 | by | by | ADP | _ | 30 beasts | case |
| 30 | beasts | beast | NOUN | Number=Plur | 28 devoured | obl:agent |
| 31 | of | of | ADP | _ | 32 prey | case |
| 32 | prey | prey | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 beasts | nmod |
| 33 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 40 interred | punct |
| 34 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 40 interred | cc |
| 35 | chiefs | chief | NOUN | Number=Plur | 40 interred | nsubj:pass |
| 36 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 38 men | cc |
| 37 | great | great | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 38 men | amod |
| 38 | men | man | NOUN | Number=Plur | 35 chiefs | conj |
| 39 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 40 interred | aux:pass |
| 40 | interred | inter | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 8 died | conj |
| 41 | with | with | ADP | _ | 43 ceremony | case |
| 42 | much | much | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 43 ceremony | amod |
| 43 | ceremony | ceremony | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 interred | obl |
| 44 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 8 died | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | die | past | common people | time | vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | ||||
| 2 | drag away | past · passive | people's corpses | to a short distance from the kraal; away property | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme to distance=Destination | ||||
| 3 | leave | participle | there | tree rules | |||||
| 4 | devour | to-infinitive · passive | beasts of prey | vn devour-39.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 5 | inter | past · passive | chiefs and great men | with much ceremony | tree rules |
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/pg71335/2/135/