Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Long Snake., sentence 3
But Long Snake, though a man, has been bewitched and obliged to assume the appearance of a serpent, retaining however the faculties of a human being.
What happens: bewitch, oblige, assume, retain · To what, where: man, appearance, faculties
This is a sentence of «Kaffir folk-lore» by George McCall Theal, The Story of Long Snake.. 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 | But | but | CCONJ | _ | 2 Long | cc |
| 2 | Long | Long | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 3 | Snake | Snake | PROPN | Number=Sing | 2 Long | flat |
| 4 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 11 bewitched | punct |
| 5 | though | though | SCONJ | _ | 11 bewitched | mark |
| 6 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 7 man | det |
| 7 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 bewitched | nsubj |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 7 man | punct |
| 9 | has | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 11 bewitched | aux |
| 10 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 11 bewitched | aux:pass |
| 11 | bewitched | bewitch | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 2 Long | parataxis |
| 12 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 13 obliged | cc |
| 13 | obliged | oblige | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 11 bewitched | conj |
| 14 | to | to | PART | _ | 15 assume | mark |
| 15 | assume | assume | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 13 obliged | xcomp |
| 16 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 17 appearance | det |
| 17 | appearance | appearance | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 assume | obj |
| 18 | of | of | ADP | _ | 20 serpent | case |
| 19 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 20 serpent | det |
| 20 | serpent | serpent | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 appearance | nmod |
| 21 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 22 retaining | punct |
| 22 | retaining | retain | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 2 Long | advcl |
| 23 | however | however | ADV | _ | 25 faculties | advmod |
| 24 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 25 faculties | det |
| 25 | faculties | faculty | NOUN | Number=Plur | 22 retaining | obj |
| 26 | of | of | SCONJ | _ | 28 human | mark |
| 27 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 28 human | det |
| 28 | human | human | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 25 faculties | acl |
| 29 | being | be | AUX | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 28 human | advcl |
| 30 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 Long | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | bewitch | present · perfect · passive | a man | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer | |||||
| 2 | oblige | participle | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Result | ||||||
| 3 | assume | to-infinitive | the appearance of a serpent | vn adopt-93.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent appearance=Theme | |||||
| 4 | retain | gerund | the faculties | tree rules |
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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