Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xviii.--how the River Came Into Existence; Or, Why a Crab Has No Head., sentence 23
After a time he thought that if he left the crab in the water that he would fill the pond up again, so he told the hawk to dig away at the lower end, so that the water could flow out of the pond.
Who acts: elephant, water · What happens: think, leave, fill up, tell, dig away, flow out · To what, where: crab, water, pond, hawk · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xviii.--how the River Came Into Existence; Or, Why a Crab Has No Head.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (elephant, water), 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 | After | after | ADP | _ | 3 time | case |
| 2 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 time | det |
| 3 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 thought | obl |
| 4 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 thought | nsubj |
| 5 | thought | think | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 9 left | mark |
| 7 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 9 left | mark |
| 8 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 9 left | nsubj |
| 9 | left | leave | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 thought | ccomp |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 crab | det |
| 11 | crab | crab | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 left | obj |
| 12 | in | in | ADP | _ | 14 water | case |
| 13 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 water | det |
| 14 | water | water | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 left | obl |
| 15 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 18 fill | mark |
| 16 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 18 fill | nsubj |
| 17 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 18 fill | aux |
| 18 | fill | fill | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 9 left | advcl |
| 19 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 pond | det |
| 20 | pond | pond | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 fill | obj |
| 21 | up | up | ADP | _ | 18 fill | compound:prt |
| 22 | again | again | ADV | _ | 18 fill | advmod |
| 23 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 26 told | punct |
| 24 | so | so | ADV | _ | 26 told | advmod |
| 25 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 26 told | nsubj |
| 26 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 thought | conj |
| 27 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 28 hawk | det |
| 28 | hawk | hawk | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 told | obj |
| 29 | to | to | PART | _ | 30 dig | mark |
| 30 | dig | dig | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 26 told | xcomp |
| 31 | away | away | ADV | _ | 30 dig | advmod |
| 32 | at | at | ADP | _ | 35 end | case |
| 33 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 35 end | det |
| 34 | lower | low | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 35 end | amod |
| 35 | end | end | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 dig | obl |
| 36 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 42 flow | punct |
| 37 | so | so | SCONJ | ExtPos=SCONJ | 42 flow | mark |
| 38 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 37 so | fixed |
| 39 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 40 water | det |
| 40 | water | water | NOUN | Number=Sing | 42 flow | nsubj |
| 41 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 42 flow | aux |
| 42 | flow | flow | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 30 dig | conj |
| 43 | out | out | ADP | _ | 46 pond | case |
| 44 | of | of | ADP | _ | 46 pond | case |
| 45 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 46 pond | det |
| 46 | pond | pond | NOUN | Number=Sing | 42 flow | obl |
| 47 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 thought | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | think speech: other | past | elephant | time | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | ||||
| 2 | leave | past | elephant | the crab | the water | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent crab=Theme in water=Location | |||
| 3 | fill up | would | elephant | the pond | again | vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent pond=Patient | |||
| 4 | tell speech: assert | past | elephant | the hawk | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent hawk=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 5 | dig away not said to happen | to-infinitive | elephant not said here | at the lower end | away property | vn poke-19-1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at end=Theme | |||
| 6 | flow out | could | the water | the pond | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location pond=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/pg70959/13/23/