Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xiii.--of Chief Amaza, His Wife Achi and the Tortoise., sentence 11
When they arrived at the river, which was close to where the ju-ju man lived, they found that most of the people had already dried their fish and were returning home.
Who acts: slaves, river, ju man, most · What happens: arrive, be, live, find, dry, return · To what, where: river, fish · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xiii.--of Chief Amaza, His Wife Achi and the Tortoise.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (slaves, river, ju man, most), 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 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 arrived | nsubj |
| 3 | arrived | arrive | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 21 found | advcl |
| 4 | at | at | ADP | _ | 6 river | case |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 river | det |
| 6 | river | river | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 arrived | obl |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 10 close | punct |
| 8 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 10 close | nsubj |
| 9 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 10 close | cop |
| 10 | close | close | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 river | amod |
| 11 | to | to | SCONJ | _ | 18 lived | mark |
| 12 | where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 18 lived | advmod |
| 13 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 17 man | det |
| 14 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 ju | compound |
| 15 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 14 ju | punct |
| 16 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 man | compound |
| 17 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 lived | nsubj |
| 18 | lived | live | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 10 close | advcl |
| 19 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 3 arrived | punct |
| 20 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 21 found | nsubj |
| 21 | found | find | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 22 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 29 dried | mark |
| 23 | most | most | ADJ | Degree=Sup | 29 dried | nsubj |
| 24 | of | of | ADP | _ | 26 people | case |
| 25 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 26 people | det |
| 26 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 23 most | nmod |
| 27 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 29 dried | aux |
| 28 | already | already | ADV | _ | 29 dried | advmod |
| 29 | dried | dry | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 21 found | ccomp |
| 30 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 31 fish | nmod:poss |
| 31 | fish | fish | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 dried | obj |
| 32 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 34 returning | cc |
| 33 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 34 returning | aux |
| 34 | returning | return | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 29 dried | conj |
| 35 | home | home | ADV | _ | 34 returning | advmod |
| 36 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 21 found | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | arrive | past | slaves = slave | the river | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 2 | is | past | the river | close property | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | live | past | the ju man | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 4 | find | past | slaves = slave | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | |||||
| 5 | dry | past · perfect | most of the people | slaves's fish | vn other_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Patient fish=Result | ||||
| 6 | return | past · progressive | most of the people not said here | home property | vn escape-51.1-1 «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: «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/pg70959/10/11/