---
title: Buh Owl, him sing so well an eh pick de banjo so clear, nobody kin l… — Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the… · tree and pragmatics
description: Buh Owl, him sing so well an eh pick de banjo so clear, nobody kin listen ter um an keep eh foot still; but eh no wan leh nobody shum wen eh duh sing an play. Who acts: Buh. A sentence of «Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular» by Charles C., Jr. Jones, Opening, part 3, with its
---

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# Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular, Opening, part 3, sentence 147

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Buh Owl, him sing so well an eh pick de banjo so clear, nobody kin listen ter um an keep eh foot still; but eh no wan leh nobody shum wen eh duh sing an play.

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**Who acts:** Buh · **What happens:** sing, listen, eh · **To what, where:** eh de banjo, um, wen eh, play

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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 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Buh), 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:pg76586:3:147
# text = Buh Owl, him sing so well an eh pick de banjo so clear, nobody kin listen ter um an keep eh foot still; but eh no wan leh nobody shum wen eh duh sing an play.
1	Buh	Buh	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
2	Owl	Owl	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
4	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	conj	_	_
5	sing	sing	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	so	so	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	12	advmod	_	_
8	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
9	eh	eh	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
10	pick	pick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	de	de	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	_
12	banjo	banjo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
13	so	so	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	clear	clear	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	17	compound	_	_
17	kin	kin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	conj	_	_
18	listen	listen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
19	ter	ter	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	18	dep	_	_
20	um	um	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	_
21	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
22	keep	keep	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	compound	_	_
23	eh	eh	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
25	still	still	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	28	punct	_	_
27	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	eh	eh	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
29	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	31	det	_	_
30	wan	wan	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	leh	leh	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nsubj	_	_
32	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	33	compound	_	_
33	shum	shum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	compound	_	_
34	wen	wen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	compound	_	_
35	eh	eh	X	GW	_	28	obj	_	_
36	duh	duh	INTJ	UH	_	37	discourse	_	_
37	sing	sing	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	conj	_	_
38	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	play	play	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sing** *speech: express* | present | Buh | a eh de banjo and nobody kin |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location |
| 2 | **listen** | infinitive | Buh *not said here* | um |  |  |  | a keep eh foot *obl* | tree rules |
| 3 | **eh** | past | Buh *not said here* | wen eh  no wan leh |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **sing** *speech: express* | infinitive | Buh *not said here* | a play |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location play=Theme |

<!-- .note -->
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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