Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 72
These clicks are easily sounded separately by Europeans, the c by withdrawing the tongue sharply from the front teeth, the q by doing the same from the roof of the mouth, and the x by drawing the breath in a peculiar way between the tongue and the side teeth; but they generally prove an insurmountable difficulty to an adult who wishes to learn to speak the language.
Who acts: Europeans, q, x, adult · What happens: sound, withdraw, do, draw, prove, wish · To what, where: clicks, tongue, front teeth, same, roof, breath · Speech: someone speaks here
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 (Europeans, q, x, adult), 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 | These | this | DET | Number=Plur PronType=Dem | 2 clicks | det |
| 2 | clicks | click | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 sounded | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 sounded | aux:pass |
| 4 | easily | easily | ADV | _ | 5 sounded | advmod |
| 5 | sounded | sound | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 6 | separately | separately | ADV | _ | 5 sounded | advmod |
| 7 | by | by | ADP | _ | 8 Europeans | case |
| 8 | Europeans | European | PROPN | Number=Plur | 5 sounded | obl |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 11 c | punct |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 c | det |
| 11 | c | c | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 Europeans | appos |
| 12 | by | by | SCONJ | _ | 13 withdrawing | mark |
| 13 | withdrawing | withdraw | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 5 sounded | advcl |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 15 tongue | det |
| 15 | tongue | tongue | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 withdrawing | obj |
| 16 | sharply | sharply | ADV | _ | 13 withdrawing | advmod |
| 17 | from | from | ADP | _ | 20 teeth | case |
| 18 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 teeth | det |
| 19 | front | front | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 20 teeth | amod |
| 20 | teeth | tooth | NOUN | Number=Plur | 13 withdrawing | obl |
| 21 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 23 q | punct |
| 22 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 23 q | det |
| 23 | q | Q | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 teeth | appos |
| 24 | by | by | SCONJ | _ | 25 doing | mark |
| 25 | doing | do | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 23 q | acl |
| 26 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 27 same | det |
| 27 | same | same | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 25 doing | obj |
| 28 | from | from | ADP | _ | 30 roof | case |
| 29 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 30 roof | det |
| 30 | roof | roof | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 doing | obl |
| 31 | of | of | ADP | _ | 33 mouth | case |
| 32 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 33 mouth | det |
| 33 | mouth | mouth | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 roof | nmod |
| 34 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 57 prove | punct |
| 35 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 57 prove | cc |
| 36 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 37 x | det |
| 37 | x | x | NOUN | Number=Sing | 57 prove | nsubj |
| 38 | by | by | SCONJ | _ | 39 drawing | mark |
| 39 | drawing | draw | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 37 x | acl |
| 40 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 41 breath | det |
| 41 | breath | breath | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 drawing | obj |
| 42 | in | in | ADP | _ | 45 way | case |
| 43 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 45 way | det |
| 44 | peculiar | peculiar | NOUN | Number=Sing | 45 way | compound |
| 45 | way | way | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 drawing | obl |
| 46 | between | between | ADP | _ | 48 tongue | case |
| 47 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 48 tongue | det |
| 48 | tongue | tongue | NOUN | Number=Sing | 45 way | nmod |
| 49 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 52 teeth | cc |
| 50 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 52 teeth | det |
| 51 | side | side | NOUN | Number=Sing | 52 teeth | compound |
| 52 | teeth | tooth | NOUN | Number=Plur | 48 tongue | conj |
| 53 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 57 prove | punct |
| 54 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 57 prove | cc |
| 55 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 57 prove | nsubj |
| 56 | generally | generally | ADV | _ | 57 prove | advmod |
| 57 | prove | prove | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 sounded | conj |
| 58 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 60 difficulty | det |
| 59 | insurmountable | insurmountable | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 60 difficulty | amod |
| 60 | difficulty | difficulty | NOUN | Number=Sing | 57 prove | obj |
| 61 | to | to | ADP | _ | 63 adult | case |
| 62 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 63 adult | det |
| 63 | adult | adult | NOUN | Number=Sing | 60 difficulty | nmod |
| 64 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 65 wishes | nsubj |
| 65 | wishes | wish | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 63 adult | acl:relcl |
| 66 | to | to | PART | _ | 67 learn | mark |
| 67 | learn | learn | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 65 wishes | ccomp |
| 68 | to | to | PART | _ | 69 speak | mark |
| 69 | speak | speak | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 67 learn | xcomp |
| 70 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 71 language | det |
| 71 | language | language | NOUN | Number=Sing | 69 speak | obj |
| 72 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 sounded | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | sound | present · passive | Europeans | this clicks | easily, separately property | vn sound_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location subject=Theme | |||
| 2 | withdraw | gerund | Europeans not said here | the tongue | the front teeth | sharply property | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent tongue=Theme from tooth=Initial_Location | ||
| 3 | do | gerund | the q not said here | the same | the roof of the mouth | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent same=Eventuality | |||
| 4 | draw | gerund | the x not said here | the breath | a peculiar way between the tongue and the side teeth | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent breath=Theme in way=Destination | |||
| 5 | prove | present | the x | a insurmountable difficulty | to a adult; clicks = click nsubj; generally property | vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent difficulty=Theme | |||
| 6 | wish | present | a adult | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | |||||
| 7 | learn not said to happen | to-infinitive | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | ||||||
| 8 | speak speech: other | to-infinitive | the language | tree rules |
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/pg71335/2/72/