The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Unfinished Boat, sentence 17
And the Minstrel would begin with a hymn of creation, or a tale of mighty strife and heroism; but at the end of the strain he would forget his subject and begin to chant a ballad of love or a ditty recounting the charms of the matchless maiden of Pohyola.
Who acts: Minstrel, mind, ditty, creation, mighty strife · What happens: begin, forget, chant, recount, hymn, tell · To what, where: subject, end, ballad, charms · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Unfinished Boat. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Minstrel, mind, ditty, creation), 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 | And | and | CCONJ | _ | 5 begin | cc |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 Minstrel | det |
| 3 | Minstrel | Minstrel | PROPN | Number=Sing | 5 begin | nsubj |
| 4 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 5 begin | aux |
| 5 | begin | begin | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 6 | with | with | ADP | _ | 8 hymn | case |
| 7 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 hymn | det |
| 8 | hymn | hymn | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 begin | obl |
| 9 | of | of | ADP | _ | 10 creation | case |
| 10 | creation | creation | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 hymn | nmod |
| 11 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 14 tale | punct |
| 12 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 14 tale | cc |
| 13 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 14 tale | det |
| 14 | tale | tale | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 hymn | conj |
| 15 | of | of | ADP | _ | 17 strife | case |
| 16 | mighty | mighty | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 17 strife | amod |
| 17 | strife | strife | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 tale | nmod |
| 18 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 19 heroism | cc |
| 19 | heroism | heroism | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 strife | conj |
| 20 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 30 forget | punct |
| 21 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 30 forget | cc |
| 22 | at | at | ADP | _ | 24 end | case |
| 23 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 24 end | det |
| 24 | end | end | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 forget | obl |
| 25 | of | of | ADP | _ | 27 strain | case |
| 26 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 27 strain | det |
| 27 | strain | strain | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 end | nmod |
| 28 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 30 forget | nsubj |
| 29 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 30 forget | aux |
| 30 | forget | forget | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 5 begin | conj |
| 31 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 32 subject | nmod:poss |
| 32 | subject | subject | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 forget | obj |
| 33 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 34 begin | cc |
| 34 | begin | begin | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 30 forget | conj |
| 35 | to | to | PART | _ | 36 chant | mark |
| 36 | chant | chant | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 34 begin | xcomp |
| 37 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 38 ballad | det |
| 38 | ballad | ballad | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 chant | obj |
| 39 | of | of | ADP | _ | 40 love | case |
| 40 | love | love | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 ballad | nmod |
| 41 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 43 ditty | cc |
| 42 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 43 ditty | det |
| 43 | ditty | ditty | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 ballad | conj |
| 44 | recounting | recount | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 43 ditty | acl |
| 45 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 46 charms | det |
| 46 | charms | charm | NOUN | Number=Plur | 44 recounting | obj |
| 47 | of | of | ADP | _ | 50 maiden | case |
| 48 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 50 maiden | det |
| 49 | matchless | matchless | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 50 maiden | amod |
| 50 | maiden | maiden | NOUN | Number=Sing | 46 charms | nmod |
| 51 | of | of | ADP | _ | 52 Pohyola | case |
| 52 | Pohyola | Pohyola | PROPN | Number=Sing | 50 maiden | nmod |
| 53 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 begin | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | begin | would | the Minstrel | with a hymn of creation or a tale of mighty strife and heroism | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V PP.subeventuality»: agent=Eventuality with hymn=Subeventuality | ||||
| 2 | forget | would | mind | mind's subject | at the end of the strain | tree rules | |||
| 3 | begin | present | mind not said here | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | |||||
| 4 | chant | to-infinitive | mind not said here | a ballad of love or a ditty | vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ballad=Topic | ||||
| 5 | recount speech: other | gerund | a ditty not said here | the charms of the matchless maiden of Pohyola | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent charm=Topic | ||||
| 6 | hymn | creation | nom hymn «communication intransitive»: of=agent | ||||||
| 7 | tell | mighty strife and heroism | nom tale «communication intransitive»: of=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: «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, Project Gutenberg book 66819 (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/pg66819/13/17/