Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 118
From that day, the frog lived in the water, and seldom came to land except for food, and, ever since, the young of the frog have had tails which show that they come from the frog which was made from the tail of a yam.
Who acts: frog, young, tails, nuts · What happens: live, come, land, have, show, make · To what, where: water, tails, frog, tail · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (frog, young, tails, nuts), 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 | From | from | ADP | _ | 3 day | case |
| 2 | that | that | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 3 day | det |
| 3 | day | day | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 lived | obl |
| 4 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 3 day | punct |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 frog | det |
| 6 | frog | frog | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 lived | nsubj |
| 7 | lived | live | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 8 | in | in | ADP | _ | 10 water | case |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 water | det |
| 10 | water | water | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 lived | obl |
| 11 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 14 came | punct |
| 12 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 14 came | cc |
| 13 | seldom | seldom | ADV | _ | 14 came | advmod |
| 14 | came | come | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 lived | conj |
| 15 | to | to | PART | _ | 16 land | mark |
| 16 | land | land | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 14 came | xcomp |
| 17 | except | except | ADP | _ | 19 food | case |
| 18 | for | for | ADP | _ | 19 food | case |
| 19 | food | food | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 land | obl |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 32 had | punct |
| 21 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 32 had | cc |
| 22 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 21 and | punct |
| 23 | ever | ever | ADV | PronType=Ind | 24 since | advmod |
| 24 | since | since | ADV | _ | 32 had | advmod |
| 25 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 24 since | punct |
| 26 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 27 young | det |
| 27 | young | young | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 had | nsubj |
| 28 | of | of | ADP | _ | 30 frog | case |
| 29 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 30 frog | det |
| 30 | frog | frog | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 young | nmod |
| 31 | have | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 32 had | aux |
| 32 | had | have | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 14 came | parataxis |
| 33 | tails | tail | NOUN | Number=Plur | 32 had | obj |
| 34 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 35 show | nsubj |
| 35 | show | show | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 33 tails | acl:relcl |
| 36 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 38 come | mark |
| 37 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 38 come | nsubj |
| 38 | come | come | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 35 show | ccomp |
| 39 | from | from | ADP | _ | 41 frog | case |
| 40 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 41 frog | det |
| 41 | frog | frog | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 come | obl |
| 42 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 44 made | nsubj:pass |
| 43 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 44 made | aux:pass |
| 44 | made | make | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 41 frog | acl:relcl |
| 45 | from | from | ADP | _ | 47 tail | case |
| 46 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 47 tail | det |
| 47 | tail | tail | NOUN | Number=Sing | 44 made | obl |
| 48 | of | of | ADP | _ | 50 yam | case |
| 49 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 50 yam | det |
| 50 | yam | yam | NOUN | Number=Sing | 47 tail | nmod |
| 51 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 7 lived | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | live | past | the frog | the water | day | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in water=Location | |||
| 2 | come | past | the frog not said here | seldom property | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | land | to-infinitive | the frog not said here | except food | vn pocket-9.10-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 4 | have | present · perfect | the young of the frog | tails | ever | since property | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tail=Patient | ||
| 5 | show | present | tails | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 6 | come | present | nuts = nut | from the frog | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme from frog=Initial_Location | ||||
| 7 | make | past · passive | the frog | the tail of a yam | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V PP»: subject=Product from tail=Material |
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/pg70959/12/118/