Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 204
Iron and copper are now obtained in trade from Europeans, but when the country was first visited, the Kaffirs were found in possession of these metals, and to the present day a few stubborn conservatives prefer to smelt ore for themselves, as their ancestors did before them.
Who acts: few stubborn conservatives, ancestors · What happens: obtain, visit, find, prefer, smelt, do · To what, where: Iron, trade, country, Kaffirs, possession, ore
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 (few stubborn conservatives, ancestors), 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 | Iron | iron | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 obtained | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 3 copper | cc |
| 3 | copper | copper | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Iron | conj |
| 4 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 6 obtained | aux:pass |
| 5 | now | now | ADV | PronType=Dem | 6 obtained | advmod |
| 6 | obtained | obtain | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 7 | in | in | ADP | _ | 8 trade | case |
| 8 | trade | trade | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 obtained | obl |
| 9 | from | from | ADP | _ | 10 Europeans | case |
| 10 | Europeans | European | PROPN | Number=Plur | 8 trade | nmod |
| 11 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 18 visited | punct |
| 12 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 18 visited | cc |
| 13 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 18 visited | advmod |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 15 country | det |
| 15 | country | country | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 visited | nsubj:pass |
| 16 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 18 visited | aux:pass |
| 17 | first | first | ADV | NumForm=Word NumType=Ord | 18 visited | advmod |
| 18 | visited | visit | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 6 obtained | conj |
| 19 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 23 found | punct |
| 20 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 21 Kaffirs | det |
| 21 | Kaffirs | kaffir | NOUN | Number=Plur | 23 found | nsubj:pass |
| 22 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 23 found | aux:pass |
| 23 | found | find | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 6 obtained | parataxis |
| 24 | in | in | ADP | _ | 25 possession | case |
| 25 | possession | possession | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 found | obl |
| 26 | of | of | ADP | _ | 28 metals | case |
| 27 | these | this | DET | Number=Plur PronType=Dem | 28 metals | det |
| 28 | metals | metal | NOUN | Number=Plur | 25 possession | nmod |
| 29 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 39 prefer | punct |
| 30 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 39 prefer | cc |
| 31 | to | to | ADP | _ | 34 day | case |
| 32 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 34 day | det |
| 33 | present | present | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 34 day | amod |
| 34 | day | day | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 prefer | obl |
| 35 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 38 conservatives | det |
| 36 | few | few | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 38 conservatives | amod |
| 37 | stubborn | stubborn | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 38 conservatives | amod |
| 38 | conservatives | conservative | NOUN | Number=Plur | 39 prefer | nsubj |
| 39 | prefer | prefer | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 23 found | conj |
| 40 | to | to | PART | _ | 41 smelt | mark |
| 41 | smelt | smelt | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 39 prefer | xcomp |
| 42 | ore | ore | NOUN | Number=Sing | 41 smelt | obj |
| 43 | for | for | ADP | _ | 44 themselves | case |
| 44 | themselves | themselves | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes | 41 smelt | obl |
| 45 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 49 did | punct |
| 46 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 49 did | mark |
| 47 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 48 ancestors | nmod:poss |
| 48 | ancestors | ancestor | NOUN | Number=Plur | 49 did | nsubj |
| 49 | did | do | VERB | Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 41 smelt | advcl |
| 50 | before | before | ADP | _ | 51 them | case |
| 51 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 49 did | obl |
| 52 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 6 obtained | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | obtain | present · passive | Iron and copper | trade from Europeans | now | vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Theme | |||
| 2 | visit | past · passive | the country | first property | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Co-Agent | ||||
| 3 | find | past · passive | the Kaffirs | possession of this metals | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic | ||||
| 4 | prefer | present | a few stubborn conservatives | day | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | ||||
| 5 | smelt not said to happen | to-infinitive | a few stubborn conservatives not said here | ore | for conservatives = conservative | tree rules | |||
| 6 | do | past | conservatives's ancestors | before conservatives = conservative | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 7 | possess | this metals | nom possession «act transitive»: of=patient |
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/pg71335/2/204/