Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular, Opening, part 14, sentence 68

It was the belief of some of the African tribes that the power of a ghost bore some relation to that which the being possessed when alive, and it may be that an inherited thought affords at least a partial explanation of the ideas still entertained by their descendants upon the shores of this New World.

Who acts: Many, power, ideas · What happens: be, bore, possess, inherit, explain · To what, where: belief, African tribes, that

This is a sentence of «Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular» by Charles C., Jr. Jones, Opening, part 14. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Many, power, ideas), 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	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 belief	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 belief	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 belief	det
4	belief	belief	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 some	case
6	some	some	DET	PronType=Ind	4 belief	nmod
7	of	of	ADP	_	10 tribes	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 tribes	det
9	African	African	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 tribes	amod
10	tribes	tribe	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 some	nmod
11	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	17 bore	obj
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 power	det
13	power	power	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 bore	nsubj
14	of	of	ADP	_	16 ghost	case
15	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 ghost	det
16	ghost	ghost	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 power	nmod
17	bore	bore	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 tribes	acl:relcl
18	some	some	DET	PronType=Ind	19 relation	det
19	relation	relation	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 bore	obj
20	to	to	SCONJ	_	25 possessed	mark
21	that	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	25 possessed	nsubj
22	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	25 possessed	nsubj:pass
23	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	25 possessed	det
24	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	25 possessed	aux:pass
25	possessed	possess	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	17 bore	advcl
26	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	27 alive	advmod
27	alive	alive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	25 possessed	xcomp
28	,	,	PUNCT	_	37 affords	punct
29	and	and	CCONJ	_	37 affords	cc
30	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	37 affords	nsubj
31	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	37 affords	aux
32	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	37 affords	cop
33	that	that	SCONJ	_	37 affords	mark
34	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	36 thought	det
35	inherited	inherit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	36 thought	amod
36	thought	thought	NOUN	Number=Sing	37 affords	nsubj
37	affords	afford	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 belief	conj
38	at	at	ADP	_	39 least	case
39	least	least	ADJ	Degree=Sup	42 explanation	nmod
40	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	42 explanation	det
41	partial	partial	ADJ	Degree=Pos	42 explanation	amod
42	explanation	explanation	NOUN	Number=Sing	37 affords	obj
43	of	of	ADP	_	45 ideas	case
44	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	45 ideas	det
45	ideas	idea	NOUN	Number=Plur	42 explanation	nmod
46	still	still	ADV	_	47 entertained	advmod
47	entertained	entertained	ADJ	Degree=Pos	45 ideas	amod
48	by	by	ADP	_	50 descendants	case
49	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	50 descendants	nmod:poss
50	descendants	descendant	NOUN	Number=Plur	47 entertained	obl
51	upon	upon	ADP	_	53 shores	case
52	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	53 shores	det
53	shores	shore	NOUN	Number=Plur	50 descendants	nmod
54	of	of	ADP	_	57 World	case
55	this	this	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	57 World	nsubj
56	New	New	ADJ	Degree=Pos	57 World	amod
57	World	World	PROPN	Number=Sing	53 shores	nmod
58	.	.	PUNCT	_	4 belief	punct

Pragmatics

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is a	past	Many	the belief	of some of the African tribes	tree rules
2	bore	present	the power of a ghost	the African tribes	some relation obj	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Stimulus that=Experiencer relation=Result
3	possess	gerund · passive		that	which nsubj:pass; alive property	vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
4	inherit	participle				vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
5	is	may	Many		a inherited thought nsubj; a partial explanation of the ideas obj; afford property	tree rules
6	explain		the ideas			nom explanation «communication intransitive»: of=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/pg76586/14/68/

🌲 Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular, Opening, part 14, sentence 68

The tree

Pragmatics

Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular, Opening, part 14, sentence 68