Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xviii.--how the River Came Into Existence; Or, Why a Crab Has No Head., sentence 28
The prawn got some eyes, which he placed on the shoulders of the crab, and they grew there, so that he could see quite well, but the crab has never had a head since that time.
Who acts: prawn, eyes, crab · What happens: get, place, grow, see, not have · To what, where: eyes, shoulders, head
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 (prawn, eyes, 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 prawn | det |
| 2 | prawn | prawn | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 got | nsubj |
| 3 | got | get | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 5 eyes | det |
| 5 | eyes | eye | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 got | obj |
| 6 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 9 placed | punct |
| 7 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 9 placed | nsubj |
| 8 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 9 placed | nsubj |
| 9 | placed | place | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 eyes | acl:relcl |
| 10 | on | on | ADP | _ | 12 shoulders | case |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 shoulders | det |
| 12 | shoulders | shoulder | NOUN | Number=Plur | 9 placed | obl |
| 13 | of | of | ADP | _ | 15 crab | case |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 15 crab | det |
| 15 | crab | crab | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 shoulders | nmod |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 19 grew | punct |
| 17 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 19 grew | cc |
| 18 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 19 grew | nsubj |
| 19 | grew | grow | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 got | parataxis |
| 20 | there | there | ADV | PronType=Dem | 19 grew | advmod |
| 21 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 26 see | punct |
| 22 | so | so | ADV | _ | 26 see | advmod |
| 23 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 26 see | mark |
| 24 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 26 see | nsubj |
| 25 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 26 see | aux |
| 26 | see | see | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 19 grew | conj |
| 27 | quite | quite | ADV | _ | 28 well | advmod |
| 28 | well | well | ADV | Degree=Pos | 26 see | advmod |
| 29 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 35 had | punct |
| 30 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 35 had | cc |
| 31 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 32 crab | det |
| 32 | crab | crab | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 had | nsubj |
| 33 | has | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 35 had | aux |
| 34 | never | never | ADV | PronType=Neg | 35 had | advmod |
| 35 | had | have | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 3 got | parataxis |
| 36 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 37 head | det |
| 37 | head | head | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 had | obj |
| 38 | since | since | ADP | _ | 40 time | case |
| 39 | that | that | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 40 time | det |
| 40 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 had | obl |
| 41 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 got | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | get | past | the prawn | some eyes | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer eye=Stimulus | ||||
| 2 | place | past | some eyes | the shoulders of the crab | prawn nsubj | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent on shoulder=Destination | |||
| 3 | grow | past | eyes = eye | there | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 4 | see | could | prawn | well property | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | ||||
| 5 | not have | present · perfect | the crab | a head | time | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Patient |
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/pg70959/13/28/