Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Five Heads., sentence 11
That which makes a Kaffir marriage binding in their estimation, is not the performance of a ceremony, but the transfer of a certain number of cattle, as agreed upon, from the husband or his friends to the father or guardian of the woman.
Who acts: That, kinds · What happens: make, not be, agree, estimate, transfer · To what, where: Kaffir marriage binding, estimation, performance, transfer, certain number
This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Five Heads.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (That, kinds), 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 | That | that | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 3 makes | nsubj |
| 2 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 3 makes | nsubj |
| 3 | makes | make | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 7 binding | det |
| 5 | Kaffir | Kaffir | PROPN | Number=Sing | 7 binding | compound |
| 6 | marriage | marriage | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 binding | compound |
| 7 | binding | binding | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 makes | obj |
| 8 | in | in | ADP | _ | 10 estimation | case |
| 9 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 10 estimation | nmod:poss |
| 10 | estimation | estimation | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 binding | nmod |
| 11 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 performance | punct |
| 12 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 15 performance | cop |
| 13 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 15 performance | advmod |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 15 performance | det |
| 15 | performance | performance | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 makes | conj |
| 16 | of | of | ADP | _ | 18 ceremony | case |
| 17 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 18 ceremony | det |
| 18 | ceremony | ceremony | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 performance | nmod |
| 19 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 31 agreed | punct |
| 20 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 31 agreed | cc |
| 21 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 22 transfer | det |
| 22 | transfer | transfer | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 agreed | nsubj:pass |
| 23 | of | of | ADP | _ | 26 number | case |
| 24 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 26 number | det |
| 25 | certain | certain | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 26 number | amod |
| 26 | number | number | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 transfer | nmod |
| 27 | of | of | ADP | _ | 28 cattle | case |
| 28 | cattle | cattle | NOUN | Number=Plur | 26 number | nmod |
| 29 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 31 agreed | punct |
| 30 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 31 agreed | mark |
| 31 | agreed | agree | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 3 makes | conj |
| 32 | upon | upon | ADP | _ | 31 agreed | obl |
| 33 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 36 husband | punct |
| 34 | from | from | ADP | _ | 36 husband | case |
| 35 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 36 husband | det |
| 36 | husband | husband | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 agreed | obl |
| 37 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 39 friends | cc |
| 38 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 39 friends | nmod:poss |
| 39 | friends | friend | NOUN | Number=Plur | 36 husband | conj |
| 40 | to | to | ADP | _ | 42 father | case |
| 41 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 42 father | det |
| 42 | father | father | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 friends | nmod |
| 43 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 44 guardian | cc |
| 44 | guardian | guardian | NOUN | Number=Sing | 42 father | conj |
| 45 | of | of | ADP | _ | 47 woman | case |
| 46 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 47 woman | det |
| 47 | woman | woman | NOUN | Number=Sing | 44 guardian | nmod |
| 48 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 makes | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | make | present | That | a Kaffir marriage binding | kinds's estimation | which nsubj | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset binding=Product | ||
| 2 | not is a | present | That not said here | the performance | of a ceremony | tree rules | |||
| 3 | agree speech: agree | participle · passive | the transfer of a certain number of cattle | from the husband or husband's friends to the father or guardian of the woman | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V S»: subject=Topic | ||||
| 4 | estimate | kinds = kind | nom estimation «communication transitive»: poss=agent | ||||||
| 5 | transfer | a certain number of cattle | nom transfer «act 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.
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