Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular, Opening, part 14, sentence 72
During sleep the spirit seems to desert the body; and as in dreams we visit other localities and even other worlds, living as it were a separate and different life, the two phenomena are not unnaturally regarded as the complements of one another.--SIR JOHN LUBBOCK.
Who acts: spirit, we, body · What happens: seem, desert, visit, live, be, not regard · To what, where: body, other localities, separate life, two phenomena
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 (spirit, we, body), 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 | During | during | ADP | _ | 2 sleep | case |
| 2 | sleep | sleep | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 seems | obl |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 spirit | det |
| 4 | spirit | spirit | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 seems | nsubj |
| 5 | seems | seem | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | to | to | PART | _ | 7 desert | mark |
| 7 | desert | desert | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 5 seems | xcomp |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 body | det |
| 9 | body | body | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 desert | obj |
| 10 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 16 visit | punct |
| 11 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 16 visit | cc |
| 12 | as | as | ADP | _ | 14 dreams | case |
| 13 | in | in | ADP | _ | 14 dreams | case |
| 14 | dreams | dream | NOUN | Number=Plur | 16 visit | obl |
| 15 | we | we | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 16 visit | nsubj |
| 16 | visit | visit | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 seems | conj |
| 17 | other | other | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 18 localities | amod |
| 18 | localities | locality | NOUN | Number=Plur | 16 visit | obj |
| 19 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 22 worlds | cc |
| 20 | even | even | ADV | _ | 22 worlds | advmod |
| 21 | other | other | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 22 worlds | amod |
| 22 | worlds | world | NOUN | Number=Plur | 18 localities | conj |
| 23 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 24 living | punct |
| 24 | living | live | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 16 visit | advcl |
| 25 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 32 life | mark |
| 26 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 32 life | nsubj |
| 27 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 32 life | cop |
| 28 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 32 life | det |
| 29 | separate | separate | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 32 life | amod |
| 30 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 31 different | cc |
| 31 | different | different | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 29 separate | conj |
| 32 | life | life | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 living | advcl |
| 33 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 40 regarded | punct |
| 34 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 36 phenomena | det |
| 35 | two | two | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 36 phenomena | nummod |
| 36 | phenomena | phenomena | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 regarded | nsubj:pass |
| 37 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 40 regarded | aux:pass |
| 38 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 40 regarded | advmod |
| 39 | unnaturally | unnaturally | ADV | _ | 40 regarded | advmod |
| 40 | regarded | regard | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 16 visit | conj |
| 41 | as | as | ADP | _ | 43 complements | case |
| 42 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 43 complements | det |
| 43 | complements | complement | NOUN | Number=Plur | 40 regarded | obl |
| 44 | of | of | ADP | _ | 45 one | case |
| 45 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 43 complements | nmod |
| 46 | another | another | DET | PronType=Ind | 45 one | fixed |
| 47 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 seems | punct |
| 48 | -- | -- | PUNCT | _ | 50 JOHN | punct |
| 49 | SIR | SIR | PROPN | Number=Sing | 50 JOHN | nmod:desc |
| 50 | JOHN | JOHN | PROPN | Number=Sing | 5 seems | parataxis |
| 51 | LUBBOCK | LUBBOCK | PROPN | Number=Sing | 50 JOHN | flat |
| 52 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 seems | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | seem | present | the spirit | during sleep | JOHN SIR parataxis | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute | |||
| 2 | desert | to-infinitive | the spirit not said here | the body | vn leave-51.2-1 «NP V NP.initial_location»: agent=Theme body=Source | ||||
| 3 | visit | present | we | other localities and other worlds | as dreams | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent locality=Co-Agent | |||
| 4 | live | gerund | we not said here | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 5 | is a | past | body | a separate life | tree rules | ||||
| 6 | not regard | present · passive | the two phenomena | as the complements of one; unnaturally property | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP PP.value»: subject=Theme as complement=Value |
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/pg76586/14/72/