Ten buffalo · one relative clause

Buffalo buffalo, Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo!

Bison of Buffalo: the Buffalo bison that Buffalo bison bully also bully Buffalo bison!

Buffalo the city, used like an adjective
buffalo the animal (bison)
buffalo to bully or intimidate

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title: Ten buffalo, one relative clause
---
flowchart TD
  accTitle: Parse tree of the ten-buffalo address
  accDescr: The sentence splits into a vocative, Buffalo buffalo, and a clause. The clause's subject is Buffalo buffalo with a reduced relative clause, Buffalo buffalo buffalo, meaning that Buffalo bison bully. Its predicate is the verb buffalo with the object Buffalo buffalo.

  S(["Sentence"])
  S --> VOC["Vocative<br/><i>you, bison of Buffalo</i>"]
  S --> CL["Clause"]

  VOC --> w1["Buffalo"]:::city
  VOC --> w2["buffalo"]:::noun

  CL --> SUBJ["Subject<br/><i>Buffalo bison…</i>"]
  CL --> PRED["Predicate<br/><i>…bully Buffalo bison</i>"]

  SUBJ --> w3["Buffalo"]:::city
  SUBJ --> w4["buffalo"]:::noun
  SUBJ --> RC["Relative clause<br/><i>(that) Buffalo bison bully</i>"]
  RC --> w5["Buffalo"]:::city
  RC --> w6["buffalo"]:::noun
  RC --> w7["buffalo"]:::verb

  PRED --> w8["buffalo"]:::verb
  PRED --> OBJ["Object"]
  OBJ --> w9["Buffalo"]:::city
  OBJ --> w10["buffalo"]:::noun

  classDef city fill:#8A6408,stroke:#5C4306,color:#fff
  classDef noun fill:#6B5B3E,stroke:#3A3226,color:#fff
  classDef verb fill:#2F6B4F,stroke:#1E4634,color:#fff

Parse tree, drawn live by Mermaid 12. Read the coloured boxes left to right and you get the sentence back.Swipe sideways to see the whole tree.

Read it in three passes

1 · Who's addressed“Buffalo buffalo,” is the vocative: you, the bison of Buffalo, listen up.

2 · Who does it“Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo”: Buffalo bison (that) Buffalo bison bully. The “that” is silent.

3 · What they do“buffalo Buffalo buffalo”: they bully Buffalo bison in turn. The bullied become the bullies.

The announcement

Buffalo, Buffalo! Buffalo buffalo: Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

Hello, Buffalo! Bison of Buffalo: Buffalo bison bully Buffalo bison.

Is ten the longest?

No, and nothing is. Wikipedia puts it plainly: there is nothing special about eight, and the word repeated any number of times can be read as a grammatical sentence. William J. Rapaport was already writing versions with five and ten buffalo in 1972.

What this one does is stay shallow. It keeps a single relative clause, the same depth as the famous eight, and gets its extra two words from addressing the herd directly. To go longer you nest another “Buffalo buffalo buffalo” (Buffalo bison bully) inside a noun, three words at a time, and most readers lose the thread after the second one.