Kaffir folk-lore, Story of the Girl Who Disregarded the Custom of Ntonjane., sentence 25
A son of her father’s chief councillor puts on his head the two wings of a blue crane (the indwe), regarded by the Kaffirs as an emblem of bravery only to be worn by veterans in time of war.
Who acts: son, veterans · What happens: put, regard, wear · To what, where: two wings, head
This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, Story of the Girl Who Disregarded the Custom of Ntonjane.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (son, veterans), 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 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 son | det |
| 2 | son | son | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 puts | nsubj |
| 3 | of | of | ADP | _ | 8 councillor | case |
| 4 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 5 father | nmod:poss |
| 5 | father | father | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 councillor | nmod:poss |
| 6 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 5 father | case |
| 7 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 councillor | compound |
| 8 | councillor | councillor | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 son | nmod |
| 9 | puts | put | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 10 | on | on | ADP | _ | 12 head | case |
| 11 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 12 head | nmod:poss |
| 12 | head | head | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 puts | obl |
| 13 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 15 wings | det |
| 14 | two | two | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 15 wings | nummod |
| 15 | wings | wing | NOUN | Number=Plur | 9 puts | obj |
| 16 | of | of | ADP | _ | 19 crane | case |
| 17 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 19 crane | det |
| 18 | blue | blue | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 19 crane | amod |
| 19 | crane | crane | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 wings | nmod |
| 20 | ( | ( | PUNCT | _ | 22 indwe | punct |
| 21 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 22 indwe | det |
| 22 | indwe | indwe | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 crane | appos |
| 23 | ) | ) | PUNCT | _ | 22 indwe | punct |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 25 regarded | punct |
| 25 | regarded | regard | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 15 wings | acl |
| 26 | by | by | ADP | _ | 28 Kaffirs | case |
| 27 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 28 Kaffirs | det |
| 28 | Kaffirs | kaffir | NOUN | Number=Plur | 25 regarded | obl |
| 29 | as | as | ADP | _ | 31 emblem | case |
| 30 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 31 emblem | det |
| 31 | emblem | emblem | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 regarded | obl |
| 32 | of | of | ADP | _ | 33 bravery | case |
| 33 | bravery | bravery | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 emblem | nmod |
| 34 | only | only | ADV | _ | 37 worn | advmod |
| 35 | to | to | PART | _ | 37 worn | mark |
| 36 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 37 worn | aux:pass |
| 37 | worn | wear | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 25 regarded | advcl |
| 38 | by | by | ADP | _ | 39 veterans | case |
| 39 | veterans | veteran | NOUN | Number=Plur | 37 worn | obl |
| 40 | in | in | ADP | _ | 41 time | case |
| 41 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 worn | obl |
| 42 | of | of | ADP | _ | 43 war | case |
| 43 | war | war | NOUN | Number=Sing | 41 time | nmod |
| 44 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 9 puts | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | put | present | a son of ceremony's father's chief councillor | the two wings of a blue crane | son's head | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent wing=Theme on head=Destination | |||
| 2 | regard | participle | the two wings of a blue crane not said here | by the Kaffirs; as a emblem of bravery | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP PP.value»: agent=Agent as emblem=Value | ||||
| 3 | wear | to-infinitive · passive | veterans | time | vn wipe_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V PP-Conative»: agent=Agent |
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/pg71335/30/25/