Kaffir folk-lore, Story of the Girl Who Disregarded the Custom of Ntonjane., sentence 27
After they had been there a long time, they found that the cows which the chief sent with them were giving more milk than they could consume, so they poured what was left in a hole in the ground.
Who acts: others, cows · What happens: be, find, chief, send, give, consume · To what, where: chief, more milk, hole
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 (others, cows), 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 | After | after | SCONJ | _ | 5 there | mark |
| 2 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 there | nsubj |
| 3 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 there | aux |
| 4 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 5 there | cop |
| 5 | there | there | ADV | PronType=Dem | 11 found | advcl |
| 6 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 time | det |
| 7 | long | long | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 time | amod |
| 8 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 there | obl:unmarked |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 5 there | punct |
| 10 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 11 found | nsubj |
| 11 | found | find | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 12 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 22 giving | mark |
| 13 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 cows | det |
| 14 | cows | cow | NOUN | Number=Plur | 22 giving | nsubj |
| 15 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 17 chief | nsubj |
| 16 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 17 chief | det |
| 17 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 cows | nmod |
| 18 | sent | send | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 17 chief | acl |
| 19 | with | with | ADP | _ | 20 them | case |
| 20 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 18 sent | obl |
| 21 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 22 giving | aux |
| 22 | giving | give | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 11 found | ccomp |
| 23 | more | more | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 24 milk | amod |
| 24 | milk | milk | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 giving | obj |
| 25 | than | than | SCONJ | _ | 28 consume | mark |
| 26 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 28 consume | nsubj |
| 27 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 28 consume | aux |
| 28 | consume | consume | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 22 giving | advcl |
| 29 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 32 poured | punct |
| 30 | so | so | ADV | _ | 32 poured | advmod |
| 31 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 32 poured | nsubj |
| 32 | poured | pour | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 11 found | parataxis |
| 33 | what | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 35 left | nsubj:pass |
| 34 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 35 left | aux:pass |
| 35 | left | leave | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 32 poured | ccomp |
| 36 | in | in | ADP | _ | 38 hole | case |
| 37 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 38 hole | det |
| 38 | hole | hole | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 left | obl |
| 39 | in | in | ADP | _ | 41 ground | case |
| 40 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 41 ground | det |
| 41 | ground | ground | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 hole | nmod |
| 42 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 11 found | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past · perfect | others = other | time | there property | tree rules | |||
| 2 | find | past | others = other | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | |||||
| 3 | chief | the cows | tree rules | ||||||
| 4 | send | participle | the chief not said here | with others = other | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 5 | give | past · progressive | the cows | more milk | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent milk=Theme | ||||
| 6 | consume | could | others = other | vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 7 | pour | past | others = other | tree rules | |||||
| 8 | leave | past · passive | a hole in the ground | what nsubj:pass | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Theme in hole=Location |
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/pg71335/7/27/