Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 129
The same applies to the large eagle owls, who are invariably chased by the smaller birds, whenever they appear while the sun is up, but it is seldom the owl comes out in the day time, and then he takes shelter in some thick covert as soon as possible.
Who acts: same, smaller birds, creatures, sun, bird · What happens: apply, chase, appear, be, take · To what, where: large eagle owls, shelter, thick covert
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Opening. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (same, smaller birds, creatures, sun), 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 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 same | det |
| 2 | same | same | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 applies | nsubj |
| 3 | applies | apply | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | to | to | ADP | _ | 8 owls | case |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 owls | det |
| 6 | large | large | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 owls | amod |
| 7 | eagle | eagle | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 owls | compound |
| 8 | owls | owl | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 applies | obl |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 13 chased | punct |
| 10 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 13 chased | nsubj:pass |
| 11 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 13 chased | aux:pass |
| 12 | invariably | invariably | ADV | _ | 13 chased | advmod |
| 13 | chased | chase | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 8 owls | acl |
| 14 | by | by | ADP | _ | 17 birds | case |
| 15 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 17 birds | det |
| 16 | smaller | small | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 17 birds | amod |
| 17 | birds | bird | NOUN | Number=Plur | 13 chased | obl |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 21 appear | punct |
| 19 | whenever | whenever | ADV | PronType=Rel | 21 appear | advmod |
| 20 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 21 appear | nsubj |
| 21 | appear | appear | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 17 birds | conj |
| 22 | while | while | SCONJ | _ | 26 up | mark |
| 23 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 24 sun | det |
| 24 | sun | sun | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 up | nsubj |
| 25 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 26 up | cop |
| 26 | up | up | ADV | _ | 21 appear | advcl |
| 27 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 34 comes | punct |
| 28 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 34 comes | cc |
| 29 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 34 comes | nsubj |
| 30 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 34 comes | cop |
| 31 | seldom | seldom | ADV | _ | 34 comes | advmod |
| 32 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 33 owl | det |
| 33 | owl | owl | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 comes | nsubj |
| 34 | comes | come | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 applies | conj |
| 35 | out | out | ADP | _ | 34 comes | compound:prt |
| 36 | in | in | ADP | _ | 39 time | case |
| 37 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 39 time | det |
| 38 | day | day | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 time | compound |
| 39 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 comes | obl |
| 40 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 44 takes | punct |
| 41 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 44 takes | cc |
| 42 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 44 takes | advmod |
| 43 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 44 takes | nsubj |
| 44 | takes | take | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 applies | conj |
| 45 | shelter | shelter | NOUN | Number=Sing | 44 takes | obj |
| 46 | in | in | ADP | _ | 49 covert | case |
| 47 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 49 covert | det |
| 48 | thick | thick | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 49 covert | amod |
| 49 | covert | covert | NOUN | Number=Sing | 44 takes | obl |
| 50 | as | as | ADV | _ | 51 soon | advmod |
| 51 | soon | soon | ADV | Degree=Pos | 44 takes | advmod |
| 52 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 53 possible | mark |
| 53 | possible | possible | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 51 soon | advcl |
| 54 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 applies | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | apply | present | the same | to the large eagle owls | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 2 | chase | present · passive | the smaller birds | the large eagle owls | invariably property | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme | |||
| 3 | appear | present | creatures = creature | whenever property | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 4 | is | present | the sun | up property | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | is | present | sun | time | the owl nsubj; come, seldom property | tree rules | |||
| 6 | take | present | bird | shelter | some thick covert | then | soon property | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent shelter=Value in covert=Location |
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: «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Project Gutenberg book 70959 (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/pg70959/1/129/