---
title: Eh lay er wager say nobody kin ax eh ole serbant er questun wuh him… — Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the… · tree and pragmatics
description: Eh lay er wager say nobody kin ax eh ole serbant er questun wuh him couldnt answer, an eh gie eh fren lief fuh try de ole man any fashion dem want. Who acts: Eh, wager, fashion dem, er. A sentence of «Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular» by Charles C., Jr. Jones, Opening, part
---

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# Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular, Opening, part 8, sentence 105

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Eh lay er wager say nobody kin ax eh ole serbant er questun wuh him couldnt answer, an eh gie eh fren lief fuh try de ole man any fashion dem want.

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**Who acts:** Eh, wager, fashion dem, er · **What happens:** lie, say, gie, want, wager · **To what, where:** nobody, eh · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 8. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Eh, wager, fashion dem, er), 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:pg76586:8:105
# text = Eh lay er wager say nobody kin ax eh ole serbant er questun wuh him couldnt answer, an eh gie eh fren lief fuh try de ole man any fashion dem want.
1	Eh	Eh	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	lay	lie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	er	er	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	wager	wager	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
6	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	5	obj	_	_
7	kin	kin	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	ax	ax	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
9	eh	eh	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	ole	ole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	serbant	serbant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	_
12	er	er	PUNCT	GW	_	21	punct	_	_
13	questun	questun	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	12	flat	_	_
14	wuh	wuh	INTJ	UH	_	12	discourse	_	_
15	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	goeswith	_	_
16	couldnt	couldnt	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	eh	eh	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
21	gie	gie	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
22	eh	eh	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	21	obj	_	_
23	fren	fren	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
24	lief	lief	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
25	fuh	fuh	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	try	try	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	appos	_	_
27	de	de	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	26	flat:foreign	_	_
28	ole	ole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	appos	_	_
30	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	32	det	_	_
31	fashion	fashion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	compound	_	_
32	dem	dem	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	appos	_	_
33	want	want	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	32	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lie** | past | Eh |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | er's wager | nobody  kin ax |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent nobody=Topic |
| 3 | **gie** | infinitive | a eh | eh |  |  |  | eh ole serbant *compound*; wager *goeswith*; couldnt answer *conj* | tree rules |
| 4 | **want** | present | any fashion dem *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 5 | **wager** |  | er |  |  |  |  |  | nom wager «act transitive»: poss=agent |

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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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