Kaffir folk-lore, Story of the Girl Who Disregarded the Custom of Ntonjane., sentence 32
He thought she was the daughter of one of the men who were there to protect her, but when he made inquiries they told him she was the daughter of their chief.
Who acts: chief, girl, men, inquiries · What happens: think, be, protect, make, tell · To what, where: daughter, girl, inquiries, chief · Speech: someone speaks here
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 (chief, girl, men, inquiries), 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 | He | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 2 thought | nsubj |
| 2 | thought | think | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 6 daughter | nsubj |
| 4 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 daughter | cop |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 daughter | det |
| 6 | daughter | daughter | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 thought | ccomp |
| 7 | of | of | ADP | _ | 8 one | case |
| 8 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 6 daughter | nmod |
| 9 | of | of | ADP | _ | 11 men | case |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 men | det |
| 11 | men | man | NOUN | Number=Plur | 8 one | nmod |
| 12 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 14 there | nsubj |
| 13 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 14 there | cop |
| 14 | there | there | ADV | PronType=Dem | 11 men | acl:relcl |
| 15 | to | to | PART | _ | 16 protect | mark |
| 16 | protect | protect | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 14 there | advcl |
| 17 | her | she | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 16 protect | obj |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 25 told | punct |
| 19 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 25 told | cc |
| 20 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 22 made | advmod |
| 21 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 22 made | nsubj |
| 22 | made | make | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 25 told | ccomp |
| 23 | inquiries | inquiry | NOUN | Number=Plur | 22 made | obj |
| 24 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 25 told | nsubj |
| 25 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 2 thought | conj |
| 26 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 25 told | iobj |
| 27 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 30 daughter | nsubj |
| 28 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 30 daughter | cop |
| 29 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 30 daughter | det |
| 30 | daughter | daughter | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 told | ccomp |
| 31 | of | of | ADP | _ | 33 chief | case |
| 32 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 33 chief | nmod:poss |
| 33 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 daughter | nmod |
| 34 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 thought | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | think speech: other | past | chief | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 2 | is a | past | girl | the daughter | of one of the men | tree rules | |||
| 3 | is | past | the men | there property | tree rules | ||||
| 4 | protect | to-infinitive | the men not said here | girl | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Beneficiary | ||||
| 5 | make | past | chief | inquiries | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent inquiry=Product | ||||
| 6 | tell speech: assert | past | inquiries = inquiry | chief | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP what S»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 7 | is a | past | girl | the daughter | of inquiries's chief | 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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