Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular, Opening, part 13, sentence 15
The tooth came out so suddenly that the old man, losing his balance, fell heavily against the door of the smoke-house, while John tumbled in the opposite direction, yelling with pain, and protesting that “Uncle Jack done broke eh jaw.”
Who acts: tooth, John, Uncle · What happens: come out, lose, fall, tumble, yell, protest · To what, where: balance, door, eh jaw · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular» by Charles C., Jr. Jones, Opening, part 13. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (tooth, John, Uncle), 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 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 tooth | det |
| 2 | tooth | tooth | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 came | nsubj |
| 3 | came | come | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | out | out | ADV | _ | 3 came | advmod |
| 5 | so | so | ADV | _ | 6 suddenly | advmod |
| 6 | suddenly | suddenly | ADV | _ | 3 came | advmod |
| 7 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 10 man | mark |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 man | det |
| 9 | old | old | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 10 man | amod |
| 10 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 came | advcl |
| 11 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 12 losing | punct |
| 12 | losing | lose | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 3 came | advcl |
| 13 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 14 balance | nmod:poss |
| 14 | balance | balance | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 losing | obj |
| 15 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 16 fell | punct |
| 16 | fell | fall | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 came | parataxis |
| 17 | heavily | heavily | ADV | _ | 16 fell | advmod |
| 18 | against | against | ADP | _ | 20 door | case |
| 19 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 door | det |
| 20 | door | door | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 fell | obl |
| 21 | of | of | ADP | _ | 25 house | case |
| 22 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 25 house | det |
| 23 | smoke | smoke | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 house | compound |
| 24 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 23 smoke | punct |
| 25 | house | house | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 door | nmod |
| 26 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 29 tumbled | punct |
| 27 | while | while | SCONJ | _ | 29 tumbled | mark |
| 28 | John | John | PROPN | Number=Sing | 29 tumbled | nsubj |
| 29 | tumbled | tumble | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 16 fell | conj |
| 30 | in | in | ADP | _ | 33 direction | case |
| 31 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 33 direction | det |
| 32 | opposite | opposite | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 33 direction | amod |
| 33 | direction | direction | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 tumbled | obl |
| 34 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 35 yelling | punct |
| 35 | yelling | yell | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 29 tumbled | advcl |
| 36 | with | with | ADP | _ | 37 pain | case |
| 37 | pain | pain | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 yelling | obl |
| 38 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 40 protesting | punct |
| 39 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 40 protesting | cc |
| 40 | protesting | protest | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 35 yelling | conj |
| 41 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 46 broke | mark |
| 42 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 46 broke | punct |
| 43 | Uncle | Uncle | PROPN | Number=Sing | 46 broke | nsubj |
| 44 | Jack | Jack | PROPN | Number=Sing | 43 Uncle | flat |
| 45 | done | done | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 43 Uncle | flat |
| 46 | broke | break | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 40 protesting | advcl |
| 47 | eh | eh | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 48 jaw | amod |
| 48 | jaw | jaw | NOUN | Number=Sing | 46 broke | obj |
| 49 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 came | punct |
| 50 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 3 came | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | come out | past | the tooth | the old man advcl; out, suddenly property | vn become-109.1 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Patient | ||||
| 2 | lose | gerund | the tooth not said here | John's balance | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent balance=Eventuality | ||||
| 3 | fall | past | the door of the smoke house | heavily property | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme against door=Location | ||||
| 4 | tumble | past | John | in the opposite direction | vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.patient V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient in direction=Attribute | ||||
| 5 | yell speech: express | gerund | John not said here | with pain | vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 6 | protest speech: disagree | gerund | John not said here | vn rebel-71.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 7 | break in a quote | past | Uncle | eh jaw | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer jaw=Patient | ||||
| 8 | balance | John | nom balance «state intransitive»: poss=agent |
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: «Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular» by Charles C., Jr. Jones, Project Gutenberg book 76586 (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/pg76586/13/15/