Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 83
Eba then hurried back to the place where he had left his yam-tail, but when he got there he found the yam-tail was turning itself into a frog, which grew larger and larger every moment.
Who acts: Eba, yam tail, frog · What happens: hurry back, leave, get, find, turn, grow · To what, where: place, yam 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 (Eba, yam tail, frog), 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 | Eba | Eba | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 hurried | nsubj |
| 2 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 3 hurried | advmod |
| 3 | hurried | hurry | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | back | back | ADV | _ | 3 hurried | advmod |
| 5 | to | to | ADP | _ | 7 place | case |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 place | det |
| 7 | place | place | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 hurried | obl |
| 8 | where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 11 left | advmod |
| 9 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 11 left | nsubj |
| 10 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 11 left | aux |
| 11 | left | leave | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 7 place | acl:relcl |
| 12 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 15 tail | nmod:poss |
| 13 | yam | yam | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 tail | compound |
| 14 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 13 yam | punct |
| 15 | tail | tail | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 left | obj |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 23 found | punct |
| 17 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 23 found | cc |
| 18 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 20 got | advmod |
| 19 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 20 got | nsubj |
| 20 | got | get | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 23 found | advcl |
| 21 | there | there | ADV | PronType=Dem | 20 got | advmod |
| 22 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 23 found | nsubj |
| 23 | found | find | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 hurried | conj |
| 24 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 27 tail | det |
| 25 | yam | yam | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 tail | compound |
| 26 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 25 yam | punct |
| 27 | tail | tail | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 turning | nsubj |
| 28 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 29 turning | aux |
| 29 | turning | turn | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 23 found | ccomp |
| 30 | itself | itself | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes | 29 turning | obj |
| 31 | into | into | ADP | _ | 33 frog | case |
| 32 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 33 frog | det |
| 33 | frog | frog | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 turning | obl |
| 34 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 36 grew | punct |
| 35 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 36 grew | nsubj |
| 36 | grew | grow | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 33 frog | acl:relcl |
| 37 | larger | large | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 36 grew | xcomp |
| 38 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 39 larger | cc |
| 39 | larger | large | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 37 larger | conj |
| 40 | every | every | DET | PronType=Tot | 41 moment | det |
| 41 | moment | moment | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 larger | nsubj |
| 42 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 hurried | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | hurry back | past | Eba | the place | then | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme to place=Destination | |||
| 2 | leave | past · perfect | Eba | Eba's yam tail | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tail=Theme | ||||
| 3 | get | past | Eba | there | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer | ||||
| 4 | find | past | Eba | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | |||||
| 5 | turn | past · progressive | the yam tail | place | into a frog result | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent itself=Theme into frog=Result | |||
| 6 | grow | past | a frog | large property | vn appear-48.1.1 «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/pg70959/12/83/