Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xviii.--how the River Came Into Existence; Or, Why a Crab Has No Head., sentence 26
The crab then went into the river, but having no head he could not see, so he went to the fish and asked him to cure his wounds and give him a pair of eyes to see with.
Who acts: crab · What happens: go, have, not see, ask, cure, give · To what, where: river, head, crab, wounds, pair
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 (crab), 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 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 crab | det |
| 2 | crab | crab | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 went | nsubj |
| 3 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 4 went | advmod |
| 4 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | into | into | ADP | _ | 7 river | case |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 river | det |
| 7 | river | river | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 went | obl |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 10 having | punct |
| 9 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 10 having | cc |
| 10 | having | have | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 4 went | advcl |
| 11 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 12 head | det |
| 12 | head | head | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 having | obj |
| 13 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 16 see | nsubj |
| 14 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 16 see | aux |
| 15 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 16 see | advmod |
| 16 | see | see | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 12 head | acl:relcl |
| 17 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 went | punct |
| 18 | so | so | ADV | _ | 20 went | advmod |
| 19 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 20 went | nsubj |
| 20 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 went | parataxis |
| 21 | to | to | ADP | _ | 23 fish | case |
| 22 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 23 fish | det |
| 23 | fish | fish | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 went | obl |
| 24 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 25 asked | cc |
| 25 | asked | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 20 went | conj |
| 26 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 25 asked | iobj |
| 27 | to | to | PART | _ | 28 cure | mark |
| 28 | cure | cure | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 25 asked | xcomp |
| 29 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 30 wounds | nmod:poss |
| 30 | wounds | wound | NOUN | Number=Plur | 28 cure | obj |
| 31 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 32 give | cc |
| 32 | give | give | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 28 cure | conj |
| 33 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 32 give | iobj |
| 34 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 35 pair | det |
| 35 | pair | pair | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 give | obj |
| 36 | of | of | ADP | _ | 37 eyes | case |
| 37 | eyes | eye | NOUN | Number=Plur | 35 pair | nmod |
| 38 | to | to | PART | _ | 39 see | mark |
| 39 | see | see | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 35 pair | acl |
| 40 | with | with | ADP | _ | 39 see | obl |
| 41 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 went | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | go | past | the crab | the river | then | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme into river=Initial_Location | |||
| 2 | have | gerund | the crab not said here | no head | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Patient | ||||
| 3 | not see | could | crab | no head not said here | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer head=Stimulus | ||||
| 4 | go | past | crab | to the fish | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to fish=Initial_Location | ||||
| 5 | ask speech: ask | past | crab not said here | crab | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 6 | cure not said to happen | to-infinitive | crab not said here | crab's wounds | vn free-10.6.3-1-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Causer wound=Source | ||||
| 7 | give | infinitive | crab not said here | a pair of eyes | crab | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient pair=Theme | |||
| 8 | see | to-infinitive | crab not said here | a pair of eyes not said here | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | ||||
| 9 | wound | crab | nom wound «state 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/pg70959/13/26/