Kaffir folk-lore, Introductory Chapter Regarding the Kaffirs., sentence 95
The Kaffirs are warlike in disposition and brave in the field, though when fighting with Europeans they seldom venture upon a pitched battle, owing to their dread of firearms.
Who acts: Kaffirs, Europeans · What happens: be, fight, venture, pitch, owe, dread · To what, where: disposition, field, dread, firearms
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 (Kaffirs, Europeans), 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 | 2 Kaffirs | det |
| 2 | Kaffirs | kaffir | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 warlike | nsubj |
| 3 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 warlike | cop |
| 4 | warlike | warlike | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 5 | in | in | ADP | _ | 6 disposition | case |
| 6 | disposition | disposition | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 warlike | obl |
| 7 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 8 brave | cc |
| 8 | brave | brave | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 warlike | conj |
| 9 | in | in | ADP | _ | 11 field | case |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 field | det |
| 11 | field | field | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 brave | obl |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 venture | punct |
| 13 | though | though | SCONJ | _ | 20 venture | mark |
| 14 | when | when | SCONJ | _ | 15 fighting | mark |
| 15 | fighting | fight | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 20 venture | advcl |
| 16 | with | with | ADP | _ | 17 Europeans | case |
| 17 | Europeans | European | PROPN | Number=Plur | 15 fighting | obl |
| 18 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 20 venture | nsubj |
| 19 | seldom | seldom | ADV | _ | 20 venture | advmod |
| 20 | venture | venture | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 warlike | conj |
| 21 | upon | upon | ADP | _ | 24 battle | case |
| 22 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 24 battle | det |
| 23 | pitched | pitch | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 24 battle | amod |
| 24 | battle | battle | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 venture | obl |
| 25 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 26 owing | punct |
| 26 | owing | owe | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 20 venture | advcl |
| 27 | to | to | ADP | _ | 29 dread | case |
| 28 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 29 dread | nmod:poss |
| 29 | dread | dread | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 owing | obl |
| 30 | of | of | ADP | _ | 31 firearms | case |
| 31 | firearms | firearm | NOUN | Number=Plur | 29 dread | nmod |
| 32 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 warlike | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | present | the Kaffirs | disposition | warlike property | tree rules | |||
| 2 | be | the Kaffirs not said here | the field | tree rules | |||||
| 3 | fight | gerund | Europeans = european not said here | with Europeans | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent with european=Co-Agent | ||||
| 4 | venture | present | Europeans = european | upon a pitched battle; seldom property | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 5 | pitch | participle | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | ||||||
| 6 | owe | gerund | Europeans = european not said here | to Europeans's dread of firearms goal | vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent to dread=Goal | ||||
| 7 | dread | Europeans = european | firearms | nom dread «feeling transitive»: poss=agent 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/pg71335/2/95/