---
title: Foremost among the reptiles which excited the curiosity and aroused… — Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the… · tree and pragmatics
description: Foremost among the reptiles which excited the curiosity and aroused the fears of the Georgia colonists, upon their first acquaintance with them, were the alligators. Who acts: colonists. A sentence of «Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular» by Charles C., Jr. Jones, Opening, par
---

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# Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular, Opening, part 13, sentence 20

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Foremost among the reptiles which excited the curiosity and aroused the fears of the Georgia colonists, upon their first acquaintance with them, were the alligators.

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**Who acts:** colonists · **What happens:** arouse, be, fear, acquaint · **To what, where:** fears, alligators, Georgia colonists

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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 (colonists), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg76586:13:20
# text = Foremost among the reptiles which excited the curiosity and aroused the fears of the Georgia colonists, upon their first acquaintance with them, were the alligators.
1	Foremost	foremost	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
2	among	among	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	reptiles	reptile	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
5	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	6	nsubj	_	_
6	excited	excited	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	curiosity	curiosity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	aroused	arouse	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	fears	fear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obj	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	Georgia	Georgia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	_
16	colonists	colonist	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
18	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
20	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	21	amod	_	_
21	acquaintance	acquaintance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
22	with	with	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	alligators	alligator	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **arouse** | past |  | the fears of the Georgia colonists |  |  |  | upon colonists's first acquaintance with colonists | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus fear=Experiencer |
| 2 | **is a** | past |  | the alligators |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **fear** |  |  | the Georgia colonists |  |  |  |  | nom fear «feeling transitive»: of=patient |
| 5 | **acquaint** |  | colonists *= colonist* |  |  |  |  | with colonists *= colonist* | nom acquaintance «cognition transitive»: poss=agent with=obl |

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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.

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**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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