Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 173
Far nearer to him than Qamata or the spirits of his ancestors is a whole host of water sprites and hobgoblins, who meet him turn which way he will.
Who acts: nearer Qamata, whole host · What happens: be, meet, turn · To what, where: whole host, Qamata, way
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 (nearer Qamata, whole host), 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 | Far | far | ADV | Degree=Pos | 2 nearer | advmod |
| 2 | nearer | near | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 6 Qamata | amod |
| 3 | to | to | ADP | _ | 4 him | case |
| 4 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 2 nearer | obl |
| 5 | than | than | ADP | _ | 6 Qamata | case |
| 6 | Qamata | Qamata | PROPN | Number=Sing | 16 host | nsubj |
| 7 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 9 spirits | cc |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 spirits | det |
| 9 | spirits | spirit | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 Qamata | conj |
| 10 | of | of | ADP | _ | 12 ancestors | case |
| 11 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 12 ancestors | nmod:poss |
| 12 | ancestors | ancestor | NOUN | Number=Plur | 9 spirits | nmod |
| 13 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 16 host | cop |
| 14 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 16 host | det |
| 15 | whole | whole | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 16 host | amod |
| 16 | host | host | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 17 | of | of | ADP | _ | 19 sprites | case |
| 18 | water | water | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 sprites | compound |
| 19 | sprites | sprite | NOUN | Number=Plur | 16 host | nmod |
| 20 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 21 hobgoblins | cc |
| 21 | hobgoblins | hobgoblin | NOUN | Number=Plur | 19 sprites | conj |
| 22 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 24 meet | punct |
| 23 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 24 meet | nsubj |
| 24 | meet | meet | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 16 host | parataxis |
| 25 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 24 meet | obj |
| 26 | turn | turn | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 24 meet | xcomp |
| 27 | which | which | DET | PronType=Int | 28 way | det |
| 28 | way | way | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 turn | obj |
| 29 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 30 will | nsubj |
| 30 | will | will | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 28 way | acl:relcl |
| 31 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 16 host | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | present | nearer Qamata or the spirits of Qamata's ancestors | a whole host | of water sprites and hobgoblins | tree rules | |||
| 2 | meet | present | a whole host | Qamata | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | turn | infinitive | a whole host not said here | which way | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent way=Theme |
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/pg71335/2/173/