Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 32, sentence 86
At last he came to a gigantic oak-tree; and on the tree there was an old man sitting, whom he asked how he was to procure the “Talking-Bird, a Singing-Tree, and the Water of Life.”
Who acts: visitor, old man · What happens: come, sit, ask, be · To what, where: last, Water · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 32. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (visitor, old man), 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 | At | at | ADP | _ | 2 last | case |
| 2 | last | last | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 came | obl |
| 3 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 came | nsubj |
| 4 | came | come | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | to | to | ADP | _ | 10 tree | case |
| 6 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 10 tree | det |
| 7 | gigantic | gigantic | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 10 tree | amod |
| 8 | oak | oak | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 tree | compound |
| 9 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 8 oak | punct |
| 10 | tree | tree | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 came | obl |
| 11 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 15 tree | punct |
| 12 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 15 tree | cc |
| 13 | on | on | ADP | _ | 15 tree | case |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 15 tree | det |
| 15 | tree | tree | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 came | obl |
| 16 | there | there | PRON | PronType=Dem | 17 was | expl |
| 17 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 15 tree | acl:relcl |
| 18 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 20 man | det |
| 19 | old | old | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 20 man | amod |
| 20 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 was | nsubj |
| 21 | sitting | sit | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 20 man | acl |
| 22 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 25 asked | punct |
| 23 | whom | whom | PRON | PronType=Rel | 25 asked | obj |
| 24 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 25 asked | nsubj |
| 25 | asked | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 21 sitting | parataxis |
| 26 | how | how | ADV | PronType=Int | 30 procure | advmod |
| 27 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 30 procure | nsubj |
| 28 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 30 procure | cop |
| 29 | to | to | PART | _ | 30 procure | mark |
| 30 | procure | procure | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 25 asked | ccomp |
| 31 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 35 Bird | det |
| 32 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 35 Bird | punct |
| 33 | Talking | talking | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 Bird | compound |
| 34 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 33 Talking | punct |
| 35 | Bird | bird | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 procure | obj |
| 36 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 40 Tree | punct |
| 37 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 40 Tree | det |
| 38 | Singing | singing | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 Tree | compound |
| 39 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 38 Singing | punct |
| 40 | Tree | Tree | PROPN | Number=Sing | 30 procure | obl |
| 41 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 44 Water | punct |
| 42 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 44 Water | cc |
| 43 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 44 Water | det |
| 44 | Water | Water | PROPN | Number=Sing | 25 asked | obl |
| 45 | of | of | ADP | _ | 46 Life | case |
| 46 | Life | Life | PROPN | Number=Sing | 44 Water | nmod |
| 47 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 21 sitting | punct |
| 48 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 15 tree | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | come | past | visitor | last | to a gigantic oak tree; on the tree | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to tree=Initial_Location | |||
| 2 | sit | gerund | a old man not said here | vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 3 | ask speech: ask | past | visitor | the Water of Life | whom obj | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S_INF»: agent=Agent whom=Recipient clause=Topic | |||
| 4 | is not said to happen | past | visitor | a Singing Tree obl; the Talking Bird obj; procure property | tree rules |
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.
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