Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 36
The first wives of a chief are usually the daughters of some of his father’s principal retainers; but as he increases in power his alliance is courted by great families, and thus it generally happens that the last of his wives is the highest in rank.
Who acts: first wives, manner, great families, it · What happens: be, increase, court, happen, ally · To what, where: daughters, power, alliance, rank
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 (first wives, manner, great families, it), 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 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 wives | det |
| 2 | first | first | ADJ | Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord | 3 wives | amod |
| 3 | wives | wife | NOUN | Number=Plur | 10 daughters | nsubj |
| 4 | of | of | ADP | _ | 6 chief | case |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 6 chief | det |
| 6 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 wives | nmod |
| 7 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 10 daughters | cop |
| 8 | usually | usually | ADV | _ | 10 daughters | advmod |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 daughters | det |
| 10 | daughters | daughter | NOUN | Number=Plur | root | root |
| 11 | of | of | ADP | _ | 12 some | case |
| 12 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 10 daughters | nmod |
| 13 | of | of | ADP | _ | 18 retainers | case |
| 14 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 15 father | nmod:poss |
| 15 | father | father | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 retainers | nmod:poss |
| 16 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 15 father | case |
| 17 | principal | principal | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 18 retainers | amod |
| 18 | retainers | retainer | NOUN | Number=Plur | 12 some | nmod |
| 19 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 29 courted | punct |
| 20 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 29 courted | cc |
| 21 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 23 increases | mark |
| 22 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 23 increases | nsubj |
| 23 | increases | increase | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 29 courted | advcl |
| 24 | in | in | ADP | _ | 25 power | case |
| 25 | power | power | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 increases | obl |
| 26 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 27 alliance | nmod:poss |
| 27 | alliance | alliance | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 courted | nsubj:pass |
| 28 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 29 courted | aux:pass |
| 29 | courted | court | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 47 highest | amod |
| 30 | by | by | ADP | _ | 32 families | case |
| 31 | great | great | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 32 families | amod |
| 32 | families | family | NOUN | Number=Plur | 29 courted | obl |
| 33 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 38 happens | punct |
| 34 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 38 happens | cc |
| 35 | thus | thus | ADV | _ | 38 happens | advmod |
| 36 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 38 happens | nsubj |
| 37 | generally | generally | ADV | _ | 38 happens | advmod |
| 38 | happens | happen | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 29 courted | advcl |
| 39 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 41 last | mark |
| 40 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 41 last | det |
| 41 | last | last | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 38 happens | xcomp |
| 42 | of | of | ADP | _ | 44 wives | case |
| 43 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 44 wives | nmod:poss |
| 44 | wives | wife | NOUN | Number=Plur | 41 last | obl |
| 45 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 47 highest | cop |
| 46 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 47 highest | det |
| 47 | highest | high | ADJ | Degree=Sup | 10 daughters | parataxis |
| 48 | in | in | ADP | _ | 49 rank | case |
| 49 | rank | rank | NOUN | Number=Sing | 47 highest | obl |
| 50 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 10 daughters | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | present | the first wives of a chief | the daughters | of some of manner's father's principal retainers; usually property | tree rules | |||
| 2 | increase | present | manner | power | vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient | ||||
| 3 | court | present · passive | great families | manner's alliance | vn marry-36.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Co-Agent | ||||
| 4 | happen | present | it | generally, last, thus property | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 5 | is | present | rank | high property | tree rules | ||||
| 6 | ally | manner | nom alliance «state transitive»: poss=agent |
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/pg71335/2/36/