Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 47
But it was not generally adopted until Gaika, about the beginning of the present century, gave it his countenance, since which time this custom has been almost universally followed by the Amaxosa, so that the number of petty chiefs and little clans is now very great.
Who acts: Gaika, Amaxosa, number · What happens: not adopt, give, follow, be, begin · To what, where: practice, custom, present century
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 (Gaika, Amaxosa, number), 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 | But | but | CCONJ | _ | 6 adopted | cc |
| 2 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 6 adopted | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 adopted | aux:pass |
| 4 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 6 adopted | advmod |
| 5 | generally | generally | ADV | _ | 6 adopted | advmod |
| 6 | adopted | adopt | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 7 | until | until | SCONJ | _ | 18 gave | mark |
| 8 | Gaika | Gaika | PROPN | Number=Sing | 18 gave | nsubj |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 12 beginning | punct |
| 10 | about | about | ADP | _ | 12 beginning | case |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 beginning | det |
| 12 | beginning | beginning | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 Gaika | appos |
| 13 | of | of | ADP | _ | 16 century | case |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 16 century | det |
| 15 | present | present | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 16 century | amod |
| 16 | century | century | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 beginning | nmod |
| 17 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 8 Gaika | punct |
| 18 | gave | give | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 adopted | advcl |
| 19 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 18 gave | obj |
| 20 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 21 countenance | nmod:poss |
| 21 | countenance | countenance | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 gave | obj |
| 22 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 32 followed | punct |
| 23 | since | since | ADP | _ | 25 time | case |
| 24 | which | which | DET | PronType=Int | 25 time | det |
| 25 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 followed | obl |
| 26 | this | this | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 27 custom | det |
| 27 | custom | custom | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 followed | nsubj:pass |
| 28 | has | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 32 followed | aux |
| 29 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 32 followed | aux:pass |
| 30 | almost | almost | ADV | _ | 31 universally | advmod |
| 31 | universally | universally | ADV | _ | 32 followed | advmod |
| 32 | followed | follow | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 18 gave | advcl |
| 33 | by | by | ADP | _ | 35 Amaxosa | case |
| 34 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 35 Amaxosa | det |
| 35 | Amaxosa | Amaxosa | PROPN | Number=Sing | 32 followed | obl:agent |
| 36 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 50 great | punct |
| 37 | so | so | ADV | _ | 50 great | advmod |
| 38 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 50 great | mark |
| 39 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 40 number | det |
| 40 | number | number | NOUN | Number=Sing | 50 great | nsubj |
| 41 | of | of | ADP | _ | 43 chiefs | case |
| 42 | petty | petty | NOUN | Number=Sing | 43 chiefs | compound |
| 43 | chiefs | chief | NOUN | Number=Plur | 40 number | nmod |
| 44 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 46 clans | cc |
| 45 | little | little | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 46 clans | amod |
| 46 | clans | clan | NOUN | Number=Plur | 43 chiefs | conj |
| 47 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 50 great | cop |
| 48 | now | now | ADV | PronType=Dem | 50 great | advmod |
| 49 | very | very | ADV | _ | 50 great | advmod |
| 50 | great | great | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 18 gave | conj |
| 51 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 6 adopted | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not adopt | past · passive | practice | generally property | vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | ||||
| 2 | give | past | Gaika | practice | Gaika's countenance obj | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent it=Recipient countenance=Theme | |||
| 3 | follow | present · perfect · passive | the Amaxosa | this custom | time | universally property | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme | ||
| 4 | is | present | the number of petty chiefs and little clans | now | great property | tree rules | |||
| 5 | begin | the present century | nom beginning «event 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/pg71335/2/47/