Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Sikulume., sentence 14
They stand in couples, each with a foot advanced to meet that of his antagonist, and with a cudgel elevated in the right hand.
Who acts: boys · What happens: stand, meet, elevate · To what, where: couples, that, cudgel, right hand
This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Sikulume.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (boys), 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 | They | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 2 stand | nsubj |
| 2 | stand | stand | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | in | in | ADP | _ | 4 couples | case |
| 4 | couples | couple | NOUN | Number=Plur | 2 stand | obl |
| 5 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 6 each | punct |
| 6 | each | each | DET | PronType=Tot | 4 couples | appos |
| 7 | with | with | ADP | _ | 9 foot | case |
| 8 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 9 foot | det |
| 9 | foot | foot | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 each | nmod |
| 10 | advanced | advanced | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 9 foot | amod |
| 11 | to | to | PART | _ | 12 meet | mark |
| 12 | meet | meet | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 10 advanced | xcomp |
| 13 | that | that | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 12 meet | obj |
| 14 | of | of | ADP | _ | 16 antagonist | case |
| 15 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 16 antagonist | nmod:poss |
| 16 | antagonist | antagonist | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 that | nmod |
| 17 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 21 cudgel | punct |
| 18 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 21 cudgel | cc |
| 19 | with | with | ADP | _ | 21 cudgel | case |
| 20 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 21 cudgel | det |
| 21 | cudgel | cudgel | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 stand | obl |
| 22 | elevated | elevate | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 21 cudgel | acl |
| 23 | in | in | ADP | _ | 26 hand | case |
| 24 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 26 hand | det |
| 25 | right | right | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 26 hand | amod |
| 26 | hand | hand | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 elevated | obl |
| 27 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 stand | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | stand | present | boys = boy | couples | with a cudgel | vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in couple=Location | |||
| 2 | meet | to-infinitive | boys = boy not said here | that of Khàkhàbay's antagonist | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent that=Co-Agent | ||||
| 3 | elevate | participle | a cudgel not said here | the right hand | vn put_direction-9.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in hand=Destination |
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/pg71335/32/14/