Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 230
According to their ideas, stealing cattle is not a crime; it is a civil offence, and a thief when detected is compelled to make ample restitution; but no disgrace attaches to it, and they have no religious scruples concerning it.
Who acts: crime, disgrace, skins, religious scruples · What happens: accord, steal, not be, be, detect, compel · To what, where: ideas, cattle, civil offence, ample restitution, crime, religious scruples
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 (crime, disgrace, skins, religious scruples), 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 | According | accord | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 11 crime | case |
| 2 | to | to | ADP | _ | 4 ideas | case |
| 3 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 4 ideas | nmod:poss |
| 4 | ideas | idea | NOUN | Number=Plur | 1 According | obl |
| 5 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 6 stealing | punct |
| 6 | stealing | steal | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 1 According | conj |
| 7 | cattle | cattle | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 stealing | obj |
| 8 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 11 crime | cop |
| 9 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 11 crime | advmod |
| 10 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 11 crime | det |
| 11 | crime | crime | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 compelled | obl |
| 12 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 17 offence | punct |
| 13 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 17 offence | nsubj |
| 14 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 17 offence | cop |
| 15 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 17 offence | det |
| 16 | civil | civil | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 17 offence | amod |
| 17 | offence | offence | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 compelled | nsubj:pass |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 21 thief | punct |
| 19 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 21 thief | cc |
| 20 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 21 thief | det |
| 21 | thief | thief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 offence | conj |
| 22 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 23 detected | advmod |
| 23 | detected | detect | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 21 thief | acl |
| 24 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 25 compelled | aux:pass |
| 25 | compelled | compel | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 26 | to | to | PART | _ | 27 make | mark |
| 27 | make | make | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 25 compelled | advcl |
| 28 | ample | ample | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 29 restitution | amod |
| 29 | restitution | restitution | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 make | obj |
| 30 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 34 attaches | punct |
| 31 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 34 attaches | cc |
| 32 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 33 disgrace | det |
| 33 | disgrace | disgrace | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 attaches | nsubj |
| 34 | attaches | attach | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 25 compelled | conj |
| 35 | to | to | ADP | _ | 36 it | case |
| 36 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 34 attaches | obl |
| 37 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 40 have | punct |
| 38 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 40 have | cc |
| 39 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 40 have | nsubj |
| 40 | have | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 34 attaches | conj |
| 41 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 43 scruples | det |
| 42 | religious | religious | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 43 scruples | amod |
| 43 | scruples | scruple | NOUN | Number=Plur | 40 have | obj |
| 44 | concerning | concern | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 43 scruples | acl |
| 45 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 44 concerning | obj |
| 46 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 25 compelled | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | accord | gerund | to skins's ideas goal | vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent to idea=Goal | |||||
| 2 | steal | gerund | cattle | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location cattle=Theme | |||||
| 3 | not is | present | accord a crime | tree rules | |||||
| 4 | is a | present | crime | a civil offence and a thief | a thief conj | tree rules | |||
| 5 | detect | participle | vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer | ||||||
| 6 | compel | present · passive | a civil offence and a thief | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient | |||||
| 7 | make | to-infinitive | ample restitution | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset restitution=Product | |||||
| 8 | attach | present | no disgrace | crime | vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent to it=Co-Patient | ||||
| 9 | have | present | skins = skin | no religious scruples | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent scruple=Patient | ||||
| 10 | concern | gerund | no religious scruples not said here | crime | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus it=Experiencer |
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/pg71335/2/230/