Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 18, sentence 130
“Why is it, then, master of the house, when I slipped off the sleeping shelf that there were newts running on the floor; and, when I wanted to drink at the table, I saw frogs leaping about and croaking?”
Who acts: old man, newts, frogs · What happens: be, slip off, run, want, drink, see · To what, where: youth, sleeping shelf, floor, table, frogs
This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 18. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old man, newts, frogs), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.
Mova's own parse. This tree may be wrong.
The tree
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 4 it | punct |
| 2 | Why | why | ADV | PronType=Int | 4 it | advmod |
| 3 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 it | cop |
| 4 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | root | root |
| 5 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 4 it | punct |
| 6 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 4 it | appos |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 8 master | punct |
| 8 | master | master | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 then | appos |
| 9 | of | of | ADP | _ | 11 house | case |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 house | det |
| 11 | house | house | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 master | nmod |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 slipped | punct |
| 13 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 15 slipped | advmod |
| 14 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 15 slipped | nsubj |
| 15 | slipped | slip | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 master | parataxis |
| 16 | off | off | ADP | _ | 19 shelf | case |
| 17 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 19 shelf | det |
| 18 | sleeping | sleeping | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 shelf | compound |
| 19 | shelf | shelf | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 slipped | obl |
| 20 | that | that | PRON | PronType=Rel | 22 were | obj |
| 21 | there | there | PRON | PronType=Dem | 22 were | expl |
| 22 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 19 shelf | acl:relcl |
| 23 | newts | newt | NOUN | Number=Plur | 22 were | nsubj |
| 24 | running | run | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 23 newts | acl |
| 25 | on | on | ADP | _ | 27 floor | case |
| 26 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 27 floor | det |
| 27 | floor | floor | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 running | obl |
| 28 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 41 saw | punct |
| 29 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 41 saw | cc |
| 30 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 29 and | punct |
| 31 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 33 wanted | advmod |
| 32 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 33 wanted | nsubj |
| 33 | wanted | want | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 41 saw | advcl |
| 34 | to | to | PART | _ | 35 drink | mark |
| 35 | drink | drink | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 33 wanted | xcomp |
| 36 | at | at | ADP | _ | 38 table | case |
| 37 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 38 table | det |
| 38 | table | table | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 drink | obl |
| 39 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 33 wanted | punct |
| 40 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 41 saw | nsubj |
| 41 | saw | see | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 15 slipped | conj |
| 42 | frogs | frog | NOUN | Number=Plur | 41 saw | obj |
| 43 | leaping | leap | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 42 frogs | acl |
| 44 | about | about | ADV | _ | 43 leaping | advmod |
| 45 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 46 croaking | cc |
| 46 | croaking | croak | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 43 leaping | conj |
| 47 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 46 croaking | punct |
| 48 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 8 master | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a in a quote | present | youth | tree rules | |||||
| 2 | slip off in a quote | past | the old man = man | the sleeping shelf | vn split-23.2 «NP V NP apart»: agent=Agent shelf=Patient | ||||
| 3 | run in a quote | gerund | newts not said here | the floor | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on floor=Trajectory | ||||
| 4 | want in a quote | past | the old man = man | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | |||||
| 5 | drink not said to happen, in a quote | to-infinitive | the old man = man not said here | the table | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 6 | see in a quote | past | the old man = man | frogs | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer frog=Stimulus | ||||
| 7 | leap in a quote | gerund | frogs not said here | about property | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 8 | croak in a quote | gerund | frogs not said here | vn animal_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
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.
Text: «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Project Gutenberg book 62509 (public domain in the USA). Tree: Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. Frames: Mova's frames reader (prag), the chapter read in order.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/18/130/