Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Five Heads., sentence 12
In practice the umdudo is often deferred to a convenient season, yet the woman is considered not less a wife, and her children not less legal, provided always that the transfer of cattle has taken place according to agreement.
What happens: defer, consider, provide, take, accord, transfer · To what, where: umdudo, practice, woman, transfer, cattle
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: 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 | In | in | ADP | _ | 2 practice | case |
| 2 | practice | practice | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 deferred | obl |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 umdudo | det |
| 4 | umdudo | umdudo | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 deferred | nsubj:pass |
| 5 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 7 deferred | aux:pass |
| 6 | often | often | ADV | _ | 7 deferred | advmod |
| 7 | deferred | defer | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 8 | to | to | ADP | _ | 11 season | case |
| 9 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 11 season | det |
| 10 | convenient | convenient | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 11 season | amod |
| 11 | season | season | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 deferred | obl |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 17 considered | punct |
| 13 | yet | yet | CCONJ | _ | 17 considered | cc |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 15 woman | det |
| 15 | woman | woman | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 considered | nsubj:pass |
| 16 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 17 considered | aux:pass |
| 17 | considered | consider | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 7 deferred | conj |
| 18 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 19 less | advmod |
| 19 | less | less | ADV | Degree=Cmp | 17 considered | advmod |
| 20 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 21 wife | det |
| 21 | wife | wife | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 considered | xcomp |
| 22 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 28 legal | punct |
| 23 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 28 legal | cc |
| 24 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 25 children | nmod:poss |
| 25 | children | child | NOUN | Number=Plur | 28 legal | nsubj |
| 26 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 27 less | advmod |
| 27 | less | less | ADV | Degree=Cmp | 28 legal | advmod |
| 28 | legal | legal | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 deferred | parataxis |
| 29 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 30 provided | punct |
| 30 | provided | provide | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 28 legal | conj |
| 31 | always | always | ADV | PronType=Tot | 30 provided | advmod |
| 32 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 38 taken | mark |
| 33 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 34 transfer | det |
| 34 | transfer | transfer | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 taken | nsubj:pass |
| 35 | of | of | ADP | _ | 36 cattle | case |
| 36 | cattle | cattle | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 transfer | nmod |
| 37 | has | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 38 taken | aux |
| 38 | taken | take | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 30 provided | conj |
| 39 | place | place | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 taken | obj |
| 40 | according | accord | VERB | ExtPos=ADP Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 42 agreement | case |
| 41 | to | to | ADP | _ | 40 according | fixed |
| 42 | agreement | agreement | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 place | nmod |
| 43 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 7 deferred | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | defer | present · passive | the umdudo | practice | season | often property | vn delay-53.3-1-1 «NP V»: subject=Source | ||
| 2 | consider | present · passive | the woman | a wife xcomp; less property | vn consider-29.9-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Attribute | ||||
| 3 | provide | participle | always property | vn ensure-99 «NP V that S»: agent=Precondition | |||||
| 4 | take | present · perfect · passive | the transfer of cattle | place obj | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: subject=Theme place=Destination | ||||
| 5 | accord | gerund | vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent | ||||||
| 6 | transfer | 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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