Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 140
They believe in the existence of a Supreme Being, whom they term Qamata, and to whom they sometimes pray, though they never offer sacrifices to him.
Who acts: corpses, existence · What happens: believe, term, pray, not offer · To what, where: existence, sacrifices, Qamata
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 (corpses, existence), 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 | They | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 2 believe | nsubj |
| 2 | believe | believe | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | in | in | ADP | _ | 5 existence | case |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 existence | det |
| 5 | existence | existence | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 believe | obl |
| 6 | of | of | ADP | _ | 8 Supreme | case |
| 7 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 Supreme | det |
| 8 | Supreme | Supreme | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 existence | nmod |
| 9 | Being | be | AUX | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 8 Supreme | acl |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 13 term | punct |
| 11 | whom | whom | PRON | PronType=Rel | 13 term | nsubj |
| 12 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 13 term | nsubj |
| 13 | term | term | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 existence | conj |
| 14 | Qamata | Qamata | PROPN | Number=Sing | 13 term | appos |
| 15 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 18 whom | punct |
| 16 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 18 whom | cc |
| 17 | to | to | ADP | _ | 18 whom | case |
| 18 | whom | whom | PRON | PronType=Rel | 2 believe | conj |
| 19 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 21 pray | nsubj |
| 20 | sometimes | sometimes | ADV | PronType=Ind | 21 pray | advmod |
| 21 | pray | pray | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 18 whom | acl:relcl |
| 22 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 26 offer | punct |
| 23 | though | though | SCONJ | _ | 26 offer | mark |
| 24 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 26 offer | nsubj |
| 25 | never | never | ADV | PronType=Neg | 26 offer | advmod |
| 26 | offer | offer | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 2 believe | parataxis |
| 27 | sacrifices | sacrifice | NOUN | Number=Plur | 26 offer | obj |
| 28 | to | to | ADP | _ | 29 him | case |
| 29 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 26 offer | obl |
| 30 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 believe | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | believe | present | corpses = corpse | the existence of a Supreme and term | whom conj | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer | |||
| 2 | term | the existence of a Supreme and term | corpses = corpse nsubj; Qamata appos | tree rules | |||||
| 3 | pray | present | corpses = corpse | sometimes property | vn long-32.2 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Pivot | ||||
| 4 | not offer | present | corpses = corpse | sacrifices | Qamata | vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent sacrifice=Theme to he=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/pg71335/2/140/