Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular, Opening, part 13, sentence 38

In the back-waters and in swamps where the alligators made their nests, reared their young, and dug their holes, the negroes, during their leisure hours, were fond of capturing them by means of a heavy iron hook fastened to the end of a long, stout pole.

Who acts: alligators · What happens: make, rear, dig, be, capture, mean · To what, where: nests, young, back waters, holes, heavy iron hook

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 (alligators), 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	In	in	ADP	_	5 waters	case
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 waters	det
3	back	back	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 waters	compound
4	-	-	PUNCT	_	3 back	punct
5	waters	water	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 reared	obl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 swamps	cc
7	in	in	ADP	_	8 swamps	case
8	swamps	swamp	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 waters	conj
9	where	where	ADV	PronType=Rel	12 made	advmod
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 alligators	det
11	alligators	alligator	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 made	nsubj
12	made	make	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 swamps	acl:relcl
13	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	14 nests	nmod:poss
14	nests	nest	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 made	obj
15	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 waters	punct
16	reared	rear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
17	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	18 young	nmod:poss
18	young	young	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 reared	obj
19	,	,	PUNCT	_	21 dug	punct
20	and	and	CCONJ	_	21 dug	cc
21	dug	dig	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	16 reared	conj
22	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	23 holes	nmod:poss
23	holes	hole	NOUN	Number=Plur	21 dug	obj
24	,	,	PUNCT	_	26 negroes	punct
25	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	26 negroes	det
26	negroes	negro	NOUN	Number=Plur	23 holes	conj
27	,	,	PUNCT	_	31 hours	punct
28	during	during	ADP	_	31 hours	case
29	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	31 hours	nmod:poss
30	leisure	leisure	NOUN	Number=Sing	31 hours	compound
31	hours	hour	NOUN	Number=Plur	21 dug	obl:unmarked
32	,	,	PUNCT	_	34 fond	punct
33	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	34 fond	cop
34	fond	fond	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 reared	parataxis
35	of	of	SCONJ	_	36 capturing	mark
36	capturing	capture	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	39 means	advcl
37	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	36 capturing	obj
38	by	by	ADP	_	39 means	case
39	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	34 fond	parataxis
40	of	of	ADP	_	44 hook	case
41	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	44 hook	det
42	heavy	heavy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	44 hook	amod
43	iron	iron	NOUN	Number=Sing	44 hook	compound
44	hook	hook	NOUN	Number=Sing	39 means	obl
45	fastened	fasten	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	44 hook	acl
46	to	to	ADP	_	48 end	case
47	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	48 end	det
48	end	end	NOUN	Number=Sing	45 fastened	obl
49	of	of	ADP	_	54 pole	case
50	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	54 pole	det
51	long	long	ADJ	Degree=Pos	54 pole	amod
52	,	,	PUNCT	_	51 long	punct
53	stout	stout	ADJ	Degree=Pos	54 pole	amod
54	pole	pole	NOUN	Number=Sing	48 end	nmod
55	.	.	PUNCT	_	16 reared	punct

Pragmatics

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	make	past	the alligators	swamps's nests				vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nest=Product
2	rear	past		nests's young	the back waters and swamps			vn rear-26.2.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent young=Patient
3	dig	past		nests's holes and the negroes		hour		vn poke-19-1-1-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent hole=Theme
4	is	past					fond property	tree rules
5	capture	gerund		holes = hole				vn steal-10.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme
6	mean	present					of a heavy iron hook	vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
7	fasten	participle		a heavy iron hook not said here		to the end of a long stout pole		vn tape-22.4 «NP V ADV-Middle PP»: agent=Patient to end=Co-Patient

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.

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🌲 Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular, Opening, part 13, sentence 38

The tree

Pragmatics

Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular, Opening, part 13, sentence 38