The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Triumph of Music, sentence 79
Sparrows and wrens and all the tiny birds of the fields and woods assembled by thousands; they perched on the Minstrel’s head and shoulders, they filled the branches of the trees, they hovered in the air, forgetful of everything save the sweet notes that issued from the kantele.
Who acts: Sparrows, birds, forgetful, sweet notes · What happens: assemble, perch, fill, hover, save, issue · To what, where: fields, head, branches, air, sweet notes, kantele
This is a sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Triumph of Music. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Sparrows, birds, forgetful, sweet notes), 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 | Sparrows | sparrow | NOUN | Number=Plur | 19 perched | nsubj |
| 2 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 3 wrens | cc |
| 3 | wrens | wren | NOUN | Number=Plur | 1 Sparrows | conj |
| 4 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 8 birds | cc |
| 5 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 8 birds | det:predet |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 birds | det |
| 7 | tiny | tiny | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 birds | amod |
| 8 | birds | bird | NOUN | Number=Plur | 1 Sparrows | conj |
| 9 | of | of | ADP | _ | 11 fields | case |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 fields | det |
| 11 | fields | field | NOUN | Number=Plur | 8 birds | nmod |
| 12 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 13 woods | cc |
| 13 | woods | wood | NOUN | Number=Plur | 11 fields | conj |
| 14 | assembled | assemble | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 11 fields | acl |
| 15 | by | by | ADP | _ | 16 thousands | case |
| 16 | thousands | thousand | NOUN | Number=Plur | 14 assembled | obl |
| 17 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 19 perched | punct |
| 18 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 19 perched | nsubj |
| 19 | perched | perch | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 20 | on | on | ADP | _ | 24 head | case |
| 21 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 22 Minstrel | det |
| 22 | Minstrel | Minstrel | PROPN | Number=Sing | 24 head | nmod:poss |
| 23 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 22 Minstrel | case |
| 24 | head | head | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 perched | obl |
| 25 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 26 shoulders | cc |
| 26 | shoulders | shoulder | NOUN | Number=Plur | 24 head | conj |
| 27 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 29 filled | punct |
| 28 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 29 filled | nsubj |
| 29 | filled | fill | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 19 perched | conj |
| 30 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 31 branches | det |
| 31 | branches | branch | NOUN | Number=Plur | 29 filled | obj |
| 32 | of | of | ADP | _ | 34 trees | case |
| 33 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 34 trees | det |
| 34 | trees | tree | NOUN | Number=Plur | 31 branches | nmod |
| 35 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 37 hovered | punct |
| 36 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 37 hovered | nsubj |
| 37 | hovered | hover | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 19 perched | conj |
| 38 | in | in | ADP | _ | 40 air | case |
| 39 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 40 air | det |
| 40 | air | air | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 hovered | obl |
| 41 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 45 save | punct |
| 42 | forgetful | forgetful | NOUN | Number=Sing | 45 save | nsubj |
| 43 | of | of | ADP | _ | 44 everything | case |
| 44 | everything | everything | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Tot | 42 forgetful | nmod |
| 45 | save | save | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 37 hovered | parataxis |
| 46 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 48 notes | det |
| 47 | sweet | sweet | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 48 notes | amod |
| 48 | notes | note | NOUN | Number=Plur | 45 save | obj |
| 49 | that | that | PRON | PronType=Rel | 50 issued | nsubj |
| 50 | issued | issue | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 48 notes | acl:relcl |
| 51 | from | from | ADP | _ | 53 kantele | case |
| 52 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 53 kantele | det |
| 53 | kantele | kantele | NOUN | Number=Sing | 50 issued | obl |
| 54 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 19 perched | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | assemble | participle | the fields and woods not said here | by thousands | vn herd-47.5.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 2 | perch | past | Sparrows and wrens and all tiny birds of the fields and woods | the Minstrel's head and shoulders | birds = bird nsubj | vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on head=Location | |||
| 3 | fill | past | birds = bird | the branches of the trees | vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent branch=Patient | ||||
| 4 | hover | past | birds = bird | the air | vn modes_of_being_with_motion-47.3 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in air=Location | ||||
| 5 | save | present | forgetful of everything | the sweet notes | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent note=Theme | ||||
| 6 | issue | past | the sweet notes | the kantele | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
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/pg66819/35/79/