Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular, Opening, part 13, sentence 85

The lazy way in which the negro was in the habit of fishing, perched upon a tussock, with feet and rod trailing in the water, somnolent and in utter silence, did sometimes invite and receive a flirt from the tail of the reigning alligator, defending its preserves against all poachers.

Who acts: negro, feet, lazy way, ALLIGATOR · What happens: be, perch, trail, invite, receive, reign · To what, where: habit, tussock, water, flirt, tail, preserves

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 (negro, feet, lazy way, ALLIGATOR), 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	3 way	det
2	lazy	lazy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 way	amod
3	way	way	NOUN	Number=Sing	37 invite	nsubj
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 habit	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 negro	det
7	negro	negro	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 habit	nsubj
8	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	11 habit	cop
9	in	in	ADP	_	11 habit	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 habit	det
11	habit	habit	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 way	nmod
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 fishing	case
13	fishing	fishing	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 habit	nmod
14	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 perched	punct
15	perched	perch	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 habit	acl
16	upon	upon	ADP	_	18 tussock	case
17	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	18 tussock	det
18	tussock	tussock	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 perched	obl
19	,	,	PUNCT	_	21 feet	punct
20	with	with	ADP	_	21 feet	case
21	feet	foot	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 perched	obl:unmarked
22	and	and	CCONJ	_	23 rod	cc
23	rod	rod	NOUN	Number=Sing	21 feet	conj
24	trailing	trail	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	21 feet	acl
25	in	in	ADP	_	27 water	case
26	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	27 water	det
27	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	24 trailing	obl
28	,	,	PUNCT	_	29 somnolent	punct
29	somnolent	somnolent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	27 water	amod
30	and	and	CCONJ	_	33 silence	cc
31	in	in	ADP	_	33 silence	case
32	utter	utter	ADJ	Degree=Pos	33 silence	amod
33	silence	silence	NOUN	Number=Sing	29 somnolent	conj
34	,	,	PUNCT	_	3 way	punct
35	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	37 invite	aux
36	sometimes	sometimes	ADV	PronType=Ind	37 invite	advmod
37	invite	invite	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
38	and	and	CCONJ	_	39 receive	cc
39	receive	receive	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	37 invite	conj
40	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	41 flirt	det
41	flirt	flirt	NOUN	Number=Sing	39 receive	obj
42	from	from	ADP	_	44 tail	case
43	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	44 tail	det
44	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	39 receive	obl
45	of	of	ADP	_	48 alligator	case
46	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	48 alligator	det
47	reigning	reign	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	48 alligator	amod
48	alligator	alligator	NOUN	Number=Sing	44 tail	nmod
49	,	,	PUNCT	_	50 defending	punct
50	defending	defend	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	37 invite	parataxis
51	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	52 preserves	nmod:poss
52	preserves	preserve	NOUN	Number=Plur	50 defending	obj
53	against	against	ADP	_	55 poachers	case
54	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	55 poachers	det
55	poachers	poacher	NOUN	Number=Plur	50 defending	obl
56	.	.	PUNCT	_	37 invite	punct

Pragmatics

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	is	past	the negro		the habit	in the lazy way; of fishing	tree rules
2	perch	participle		the habit not said here	a tussock	with feet and rod	vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent upon tussock=Location
3	trail	gerund	feet and rod not said here		the water		vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent in water=Trajectory
4	invite	past · do-support	the lazy way			sometimes property	vn promote-102 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent
5	receive	infinitive	the lazy way not said here	a flirt	the tail of the reigning alligator		vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent flirt=Theme from tail=Source
6	reign	gerund					tree rules
7	defend	gerund		ALLIGATOR's preserves		against all poachers	vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent preserve=Beneficiary against poacher=Theme
8	preserve		ALLIGATOR				nom preserve «state transitive»: 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/pg76586/13/85/

🌲 Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular, Opening, part 13, sentence 85

The tree

Pragmatics

Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular, Opening, part 13, sentence 85