Kaffir folk-lore, The Runaway Children., sentence 9
It may often be seen on the backs of cattle, seeking for insects on which it feeds.
Who acts: ntengu · What happens: see, seek, feed · To what, where: ntengu, backs
This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Runaway Children.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (ntengu), 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 | It | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 seen | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | may | may | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 5 seen | aux |
| 3 | often | often | ADV | _ | 5 seen | advmod |
| 4 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 5 seen | aux:pass |
| 5 | seen | see | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 6 | on | on | ADP | _ | 8 backs | case |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 backs | det |
| 8 | backs | back | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 seen | obl |
| 9 | of | of | ADP | _ | 10 cattle | case |
| 10 | cattle | cattle | NOUN | Number=Plur | 8 backs | nmod |
| 11 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 12 seeking | punct |
| 12 | seeking | seek | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 5 seen | advcl |
| 13 | for | for | ADP | _ | 14 insects | case |
| 14 | insects | insect | NOUN | Number=Plur | 12 seeking | obl |
| 15 | on | on | ADP | _ | 16 which | case |
| 16 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 18 feeds | obl |
| 17 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 18 feeds | nsubj |
| 18 | feeds | feed | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 14 insects | acl:relcl |
| 19 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 seen | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | see | may · passive | ntengu | the backs of cattle | often property | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus | |||
| 2 | seek | gerund | for insects | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V PP.theme PP.location»: agent=Agent for insect=Theme | |||||
| 3 | feed | present | ntengu | on insects | vn gorge-39.6 «NP V PP.patient»: agent=Agent on which=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/pg71335/35/9/