Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xiv.--the Fate of Agbor the Hunter, Who Killed His Wife and Children., sentence 3
Every morning he would start off with his bow and arrows to inspect his traps and take out anything he found in them, and sometimes, if he were lucky, he would shoot a buck or bush pig.
Who acts: morning, Agbor · What happens: start off, inspect, take out, find, be, shoot · To what, where: traps, anything, buck
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xiv.--the Fate of Agbor the Hunter, Who Killed His Wife and Children.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (morning, Agbor), 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 | Every | every | DET | PronType=Tot | 2 morning | det |
| 2 | morning | morning | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 start | nsubj |
| 3 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 start | nsubj |
| 4 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 5 start | aux |
| 5 | start | start | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 6 | off | off | ADP | _ | 5 start | compound:prt |
| 7 | with | with | ADP | _ | 9 bow | case |
| 8 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 9 bow | nmod:poss |
| 9 | bow | bow | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 start | obl |
| 10 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 11 arrows | cc |
| 11 | arrows | arrow | NOUN | Number=Plur | 9 bow | conj |
| 12 | to | to | PART | _ | 13 inspect | mark |
| 13 | inspect | inspect | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 5 start | advcl |
| 14 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 15 traps | nmod:poss |
| 15 | traps | trap | NOUN | Number=Plur | 13 inspect | obj |
| 16 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 17 take | cc |
| 17 | take | take | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 13 inspect | conj |
| 18 | out | out | ADP | _ | 17 take | compound:prt |
| 19 | anything | anything | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Ind | 17 take | obj |
| 20 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 21 found | nsubj |
| 21 | found | find | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 19 anything | acl:relcl |
| 22 | in | in | ADP | _ | 23 them | case |
| 23 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 21 found | obl |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 31 lucky | punct |
| 25 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 31 lucky | cc |
| 26 | sometimes | sometimes | ADV | PronType=Ind | 31 lucky | advmod |
| 27 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 26 sometimes | punct |
| 28 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 31 lucky | mark |
| 29 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 31 lucky | nsubj |
| 30 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 31 lucky | cop |
| 31 | lucky | lucky | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 start | parataxis |
| 32 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 35 shoot | punct |
| 33 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 35 shoot | nsubj |
| 34 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 35 shoot | aux |
| 35 | shoot | shoot | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 31 lucky | parataxis |
| 36 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 37 buck | det |
| 37 | buck | buck | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 shoot | obj |
| 38 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 40 pig | cc |
| 39 | bush | bush | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 pig | compound |
| 40 | pig | pig | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 buck | conj |
| 41 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 start | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | start off | would | every morning | with Agbor's bow and arrows; Agbor nsubj | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V PP.subeventuality»: agent=Eventuality with bow=Subeventuality | ||||
| 2 | inspect | to-infinitive | every morning not said here | Agbor's traps | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent trap=Theme | ||||
| 3 | take out | infinitive | every morning not said here | anything | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent anything=Theme | ||||
| 4 | find | past | Agbor | in traps = trap | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 5 | is a condition, not said to happen | past | Agbor | lucky, sometimes property | tree rules | ||||
| 6 | shoot | would | Agbor | a buck or bush pig | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent buck=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.
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