Kaffir folk-lore, The Story of Sikulume., sentence 50
He said: “If it stands still, you will know I am safe; if it shakes, you will know I am running; if it falls down, you will know I am dead.”
Who acts: cannibal, assagai, you · What happens: say, stand, know, be, shake, run · Speech: someone speaks here
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 (cannibal, assagai, you), 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 said | nsubj |
| 2 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 12 know | punct |
| 4 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 12 know | punct |
| 5 | If | if | SCONJ | _ | 7 stands | mark |
| 6 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 7 stands | nsubj |
| 7 | stands | stand | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 12 know | advcl |
| 8 | still | still | ADV | _ | 7 stands | advmod |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 7 stands | punct |
| 10 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 12 know | nsubj |
| 11 | will | will | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 12 know | aux |
| 12 | know | know | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 2 said | ccomp |
| 13 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 15 safe | nsubj |
| 14 | am | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 15 safe | cop |
| 15 | safe | safe | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 12 know | ccomp |
| 16 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 23 know | punct |
| 17 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 19 shakes | mark |
| 18 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 19 shakes | nsubj |
| 19 | shakes | shake | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 23 know | advcl |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 19 shakes | punct |
| 21 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 23 know | nsubj |
| 22 | will | will | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 23 know | aux |
| 23 | know | know | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 12 know | parataxis |
| 24 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 26 running | nsubj |
| 25 | am | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 26 running | aux |
| 26 | running | run | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 23 know | ccomp |
| 27 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 30 falls | punct |
| 28 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 30 falls | mark |
| 29 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 30 falls | nsubj |
| 30 | falls | fall | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 2 said | ccomp |
| 31 | down | down | ADP | _ | 30 falls | compound:prt |
| 32 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 35 know | punct |
| 33 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 35 know | nsubj |
| 34 | will | will | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 35 know | aux |
| 35 | know | know | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 30 falls | conj |
| 36 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 38 dead | nsubj |
| 37 | am | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 38 dead | cop |
| 38 | dead | dead | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 35 know | ccomp |
| 39 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 30 falls | punct |
| 40 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 30 falls | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | past | cannibal | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 2 | stand a condition, not said to happen, in a quote | present | assagai | still | vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 3 | know in a quote | future | you | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | |||||
| 4 | is in a quote | present | cannibal | safe property | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | shake a condition, not said to happen, in a quote | present | assagai | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient | |||||
| 6 | know in a quote | future | you | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | |||||
| 7 | run in a quote | present · progressive | cannibal | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 8 | fall down a condition, not said to happen, in a quote | present | assagai | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 9 | know in a quote | future | you | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | |||||
| 10 | is in a quote | present | cannibal | dead property | 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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg71335/9/50/