Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., part 5, sentence 81
Caesar tells us that the Gaulish bards and druids did not employ letters for the preservation of their lore, but trusted to memory, assisted, doubtless, as in this country, by the mechanical and musical aid of verse.
Who acts: Caesar, Gaulish bards · What happens: tell, not employ, trust, assist, preserve · To what, where: us, letters, memory, lore · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Early Bardic Literature, Ireland.» by Standish O'Grady, Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Caesar, Gaulish bards), 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 | Caesar | Caesar | PROPN | Number=Sing | 2 tells | nsubj |
| 2 | tells | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | us | we | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 2 tells | iobj |
| 4 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 12 employ | mark |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 bards | det |
| 6 | Gaulish | Gaulish | PROPN | Number=Sing | 7 bards | compound |
| 7 | bards | bard | NOUN | Number=Plur | 12 employ | nsubj |
| 8 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 9 druids | cc |
| 9 | druids | druid | NOUN | Number=Plur | 7 bards | conj |
| 10 | did | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 12 employ | aux |
| 11 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 12 employ | advmod |
| 12 | employ | employ | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 2 tells | xcomp |
| 13 | letters | letter | NOUN | Number=Plur | 12 employ | obj |
| 14 | for | for | ADP | _ | 16 preservation | case |
| 15 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 16 preservation | det |
| 16 | preservation | preservation | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 employ | obl |
| 17 | of | of | ADP | _ | 19 lore | case |
| 18 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 19 lore | nmod:poss |
| 19 | lore | lore | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 preservation | nmod |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 22 trusted | punct |
| 21 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 22 trusted | cc |
| 22 | trusted | trust | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 2 tells | conj |
| 23 | to | to | ADP | _ | 24 memory | case |
| 24 | memory | memory | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 trusted | obl |
| 25 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 26 assisted | punct |
| 26 | assisted | assist | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 22 trusted | conj |
| 27 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 28 doubtless | punct |
| 28 | doubtless | doubtless | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 26 assisted | conj |
| 29 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 33 country | punct |
| 30 | as | as | ADP | _ | 33 country | case |
| 31 | in | in | ADP | _ | 33 country | case |
| 32 | this | this | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 33 country | det |
| 33 | country | country | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 trusted | conj |
| 34 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 40 aid | punct |
| 35 | by | by | ADP | _ | 40 aid | case |
| 36 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 40 aid | det |
| 37 | mechanical | mechanical | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 40 aid | amod |
| 38 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 39 musical | cc |
| 39 | musical | musical | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 37 mechanical | conj |
| 40 | aid | aid | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 trusted | advcl |
| 41 | of | of | ADP | _ | 42 verse | case |
| 42 | verse | verse | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 aid | nmod |
| 43 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 tells | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | tell speech: assert | present | Caesar | us | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent we=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 2 | not employ not said to happen | past · do-support | the Gaulish bards and druids | letters | for the preservation of bard's lore | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP PP.predicate»: agent=Agent letter=Theme for preservation=Eventuality | |||
| 3 | trust | participle | Caesar not said here | memory | this country conj; the mechanical aid of verse advcl | vn fulfilling-13.4.1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to memory=Recipient | |||
| 4 | assist | participle | Caesar not said here | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 5 | preserve | bard's lore | nom preservation «act transitive»: of=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: «Early Bardic Literature, Ireland.» by Standish O'Grady, Project Gutenberg book 8109 (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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