Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 31, sentence 70
When he arrived at the city of Chernígov, under the walls of the city of Chernígov there was a Saracen host too many to count besieging the city of Chernígov: they were going to sack it and to set God’s churches aflame, and to take captive the Prince, the Duke of Chernígov.
Who acts: Tsarévichi, Saracen host, walls · What happens: arrive, be, count, besiege, go, sack · To what, where: city, churches, captive
This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 31. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Tsarévichi, Saracen host, walls), 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 | When | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 3 arrived | advmod |
| 2 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 arrived | nsubj |
| 3 | arrived | arrive | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 19 was | advcl |
| 4 | at | at | ADP | _ | 6 city | case |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 city | det |
| 6 | city | city | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 arrived | obl |
| 7 | of | of | ADP | _ | 8 Chernígov | case |
| 8 | Chernígov | Chernígov | PROPN | Number=Sing | 6 city | nmod |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 12 walls | punct |
| 10 | under | under | ADP | _ | 12 walls | case |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 walls | det |
| 12 | walls | wall | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 arrived | conj |
| 13 | of | of | ADP | _ | 15 city | case |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 15 city | det |
| 15 | city | city | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 walls | nmod |
| 16 | of | of | ADP | _ | 17 Chernígov | case |
| 17 | Chernígov | Chernígov | PROPN | Number=Sing | 15 city | nmod |
| 18 | there | there | PRON | PronType=Dem | 19 was | expl |
| 19 | was | be | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 20 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 22 host | det |
| 21 | Saracen | Saracen | PROPN | Number=Sing | 22 host | compound |
| 22 | host | host | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 was | nsubj |
| 23 | too | too | ADV | _ | 24 many | advmod |
| 24 | many | many | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 22 host | amod |
| 25 | to | to | PART | _ | 26 count | mark |
| 26 | count | count | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 24 many | advcl |
| 27 | besieging | besiege | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 26 count | obj |
| 28 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 29 city | det |
| 29 | city | city | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 besieging | obj |
| 30 | of | of | ADP | _ | 31 Chernígov | case |
| 31 | Chernígov | Chernígov | PROPN | Number=Sing | 29 city | nmod |
| 32 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 35 going | punct |
| 33 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 35 going | nsubj |
| 34 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 35 going | aux |
| 35 | going | go | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 27 besieging | conj |
| 36 | to | to | PART | _ | 37 sack | mark |
| 37 | sack | sack | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 35 going | xcomp |
| 38 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 37 sack | obj |
| 39 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 41 set | cc |
| 40 | to | to | PART | _ | 41 set | mark |
| 41 | set | set | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 37 sack | conj |
| 42 | God | God | PROPN | Number=Sing | 44 churches | nmod:poss |
| 43 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 42 God | case |
| 44 | churches | church | NOUN | Number=Plur | 41 set | obj |
| 45 | aflame | aflame | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 41 set | xcomp |
| 46 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 49 take | punct |
| 47 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 49 take | cc |
| 48 | to | to | PART | _ | 49 take | mark |
| 49 | take | take | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 26 count | conj |
| 50 | captive | captive | NOUN | Number=Sing | 49 take | obj |
| 51 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 52 Prince | det |
| 52 | Prince | Prince | PROPN | Number=Sing | 49 take | obj |
| 53 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 55 Duke | punct |
| 54 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 55 Duke | det |
| 55 | Duke | Duke | PROPN | Number=Sing | 52 Prince | conj |
| 56 | of | of | ADP | _ | 57 Chernígov | case |
| 57 | Chernígov | Chernígov | PROPN | Number=Sing | 55 Duke | nmod |
| 58 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 19 was | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | arrive | past | Tsarévichi | the city of Chernígov | the walls of the city of Chernígov conj | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||
| 2 | be | past | a Saracen host | there | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 3 | count | to-infinitive | a Saracen host not said here | vn matter-91 «NP V»: agent=Stimulus | |||||
| 4 | besiege | gerund | the city of Chernígov | tree rules | |||||
| 5 | go | past · progressive | walls = wall | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 6 | sack | to-infinitive | walls = wall not said here | city | vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme | ||||
| 7 | set | to-infinitive | walls = wall not said here | God's churches | aflame property | vn other_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Patient church=Result | |||
| 8 | take | to-infinitive | a Saracen host not said here | captive | the Prince and the Duke of Chernígov obj | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument captive=Theme prince=Destination |
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/pg62509/31/70/