---
title: “Yes, Mossa, ef I bin know dem befo dey dead, I kin know dem now. — Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the… · tree and pragmatics
description: “Yes, Mossa, ef I bin know dem befo dey dead, I kin know dem now. Who acts: time me jine, Mossa. A sentence of «Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular» by Charles C., Jr. Jones, Opening, part 14, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular, Opening, part 14, sentence 20

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“Yes, Mossa, ef I bin know dem befo dey dead, I kin know dem now.

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**Who acts:** time me jine, Mossa · **What happens:** bin, know · **To what, where:** Mossa, dem

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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 14. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (time me jine, Mossa), 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:pg76586:14:20
# text = “Yes, Mossa, ef I bin know dem befo dey dead, I kin know dem now.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
4	Mossa	Mossa	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
6	ef	ef	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	_
7	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	bin	bin	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
9	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
10	dem	dem	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
11	befo	befo	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	dey	dey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl:unmarked	_	_
13	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
16	kin	kin	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	conj	_	_
18	dem	dem	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
19	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	17	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bin** *in a quote* | present | time me jine and a fuh dem conbersation and a fine dem yis and a dey *= jine* | Mossa and ef *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn pocket-9.10 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent mossa=Theme |
| 2 | **know** *in a quote* | infinitive | Mossa and ef | dem |  |  |  | befo dead  dey | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer dem=Stimulus |
| 3 | **know** *in a quote* |  | time me jine and a fuh dem conbersation and a fine dem yis and a dey *= jine* | dem |  |  | now |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer dem=Stimulus |

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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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