Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 3
They very soon climbed up to the highest branches of the trees, collecting the fruit as they went, and started throwing them at one another, when suddenly Ori lost his hold and fell to the ground, breaking his neck.
Who acts: Ori, Okuni · What happens: climb up, collect, go, start, throw, lose · To what, where: Ori, fruit, hold, neck
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 (Ori, Okuni), 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 | They | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 climbed | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | very | very | ADV | _ | 3 soon | advmod |
| 3 | soon | soon | ADV | Degree=Pos | 4 climbed | advmod |
| 4 | climbed | climb | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 5 | up | up | ADP | _ | 4 climbed | compound:prt |
| 6 | to | to | ADP | _ | 9 branches | case |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 branches | det |
| 8 | highest | high | ADJ | Degree=Sup | 9 branches | amod |
| 9 | branches | branch | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 climbed | obl |
| 10 | of | of | ADP | _ | 12 trees | case |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 trees | det |
| 12 | trees | tree | NOUN | Number=Plur | 9 branches | nmod |
| 13 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 14 collecting | punct |
| 14 | collecting | collect | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 4 climbed | conj |
| 15 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 16 fruit | det |
| 16 | fruit | fruit | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 collecting | obj |
| 17 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 19 went | mark |
| 18 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 19 went | nsubj |
| 19 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 14 collecting | advcl |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 22 started | punct |
| 21 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 22 started | cc |
| 22 | started | start | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 climbed | parataxis |
| 23 | throwing | throw | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 22 started | xcomp |
| 24 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 23 throwing | obj |
| 25 | at | at | ADP | _ | 26 one | case |
| 26 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 23 throwing | obl |
| 27 | another | another | DET | PronType=Ind | 26 one | fixed |
| 28 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 32 lost | punct |
| 29 | when | when | SCONJ | _ | 32 lost | mark |
| 30 | suddenly | suddenly | ADV | _ | 32 lost | advmod |
| 31 | Ori | Ori | PROPN | Number=Sing | 32 lost | nsubj |
| 32 | lost | lose | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 22 started | conj |
| 33 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 34 hold | nmod:poss |
| 34 | hold | hold | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 lost | obj |
| 35 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 36 fell | cc |
| 36 | fell | fall | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 32 lost | conj |
| 37 | to | to | ADP | _ | 39 ground | case |
| 38 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 39 ground | det |
| 39 | ground | ground | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 fell | obl |
| 40 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 41 breaking | punct |
| 41 | breaking | break | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 36 fell | advcl |
| 42 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 43 neck | nmod:poss |
| 43 | neck | neck | NOUN | Number=Sing | 41 breaking | obj |
| 44 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 climbed | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | climb up | participle · passive | Ori | to the highest branches of the trees result; soon property | vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.patient V NP.extent PP.source PP.goal»: subject=Extent to branch=Result | ||||
| 2 | collect | gerund | the fruit | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fruit=Theme | |||||
| 3 | go | past | Ori | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 4 | start | past | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | ||||||
| 5 | throw | gerund | Ori | at one | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent they=Theme at one=Destination | ||||
| 6 | lose | past | Ori | Okuni's hold | suddenly property | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hold=Eventuality | |||
| 7 | fall | past | Ori not said here | to the ground | vn acquiesce-95.1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to ground=Theme | ||||
| 8 | break | gerund | Ori not said here | Okuni's neck | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer neck=Patient | ||||
| 9 | hold | Okuni | nom hold «act transitive»: poss=agent |
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/pg70959/12/3/