Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Five Heads., sentence 23
Thus the customs observed at the birth of a child are exactly the same in every part of the country among people of the same family title, though they may never have heard of each other, while neighbours of the same clan, but of different family titles, have these customs altogether dissimilar.
Who acts: customs, people, different family titles · What happens: observe, be, not hear, have · To what, where: customs, birth, part
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 (customs, people, different family titles), 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 | Thus | thus | ADV | _ | 3 customs | advmod |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 customs | det |
| 3 | customs | custom | NOUN | Number=Plur | 14 same | nsubj |
| 4 | observed | observe | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 3 customs | acl |
| 5 | at | at | ADP | _ | 7 birth | case |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 birth | det |
| 7 | birth | birth | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 observed | obl |
| 8 | of | of | ADP | _ | 10 child | case |
| 9 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 10 child | det |
| 10 | child | child | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 birth | nmod |
| 11 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 14 same | cop |
| 12 | exactly | exactly | ADV | _ | 14 same | advmod |
| 13 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 same | det |
| 14 | same | same | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 15 | in | in | ADP | _ | 17 part | case |
| 16 | every | every | DET | PronType=Tot | 17 part | det |
| 17 | part | part | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 same | obl |
| 18 | of | of | ADP | _ | 20 country | case |
| 19 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 country | det |
| 20 | country | country | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 part | nmod |
| 21 | among | among | ADP | _ | 22 people | case |
| 22 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 14 same | obl |
| 23 | of | of | ADP | _ | 27 title | case |
| 24 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 27 title | det |
| 25 | same | same | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 27 title | amod |
| 26 | family | family | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 title | compound |
| 27 | title | title | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 people | nmod |
| 28 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 34 heard | punct |
| 29 | though | though | SCONJ | _ | 34 heard | mark |
| 30 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 34 heard | nsubj |
| 31 | may | may | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 34 heard | aux |
| 32 | never | never | ADV | PronType=Neg | 34 heard | advmod |
| 33 | have | have | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 34 heard | aux |
| 34 | heard | hear | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 14 same | parataxis |
| 35 | of | of | ADP | _ | 36 each | case |
| 36 | each | each | DET | ExtPos=PRON PronType=Rcp | 34 heard | obl |
| 37 | other | other | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 36 each | fixed |
| 38 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 40 neighbours | punct |
| 39 | while | while | SCONJ | _ | 40 neighbours | case |
| 40 | neighbours | neighbour | NOUN | Number=Plur | 34 heard | conj |
| 41 | of | of | ADP | _ | 44 clan | case |
| 42 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 44 clan | det |
| 43 | same | same | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 44 clan | amod |
| 44 | clan | clan | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 neighbours | nmod |
| 45 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 52 have | punct |
| 46 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 52 have | cc |
| 47 | of | of | ADP | _ | 50 titles | case |
| 48 | different | different | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 50 titles | amod |
| 49 | family | family | NOUN | Number=Sing | 50 titles | compound |
| 50 | titles | title | NOUN | Number=Plur | 52 have | nsubj |
| 51 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 50 titles | punct |
| 52 | have | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 14 same | parataxis |
| 53 | these | this | DET | Number=Plur PronType=Dem | 54 customs | det |
| 54 | customs | custom | NOUN | Number=Plur | 52 have | obj |
| 55 | altogether | altogether | ADP | _ | 56 dissimilar | case |
| 56 | dissimilar | dissimilar | NOUN | Number=Sing | 54 customs | nmod |
| 57 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 14 same | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | observe | participle | the customs not said here | the birth of a child | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 2 | is | present | the customs | every part of the country | among people of the same family title; exactly, same property | tree rules | |||
| 3 | not hear | may · perfect | people | of each; neighbours of the same clan conj | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer of each=Stimulus | ||||
| 4 | have | present | different family titles | this customs | altogether dissimilar | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent custom=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/pg71335/28/23/