Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 120
She also told them that she had found out how to escape from the drum before she came, and had brought some sharp razors to help them to cut their way out.
Who acts: Inkang, people · What happens: tell, find out, escape, come, bring, help · To what, where: people, drum, sharp razors, way · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Inkang, people), 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 | She | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 told | nsubj |
| 2 | also | also | ADV | _ | 3 told | advmod |
| 3 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 told | iobj |
| 5 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 8 found | mark |
| 6 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 8 found | nsubj |
| 7 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 found | aux |
| 8 | found | find | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 3 told | ccomp |
| 9 | out | out | ADP | _ | 8 found | compound:prt |
| 10 | how | how | ADV | PronType=Int | 12 escape | advmod |
| 11 | to | to | PART | _ | 12 escape | mark |
| 12 | escape | escape | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 8 found | ccomp |
| 13 | from | from | ADP | _ | 15 drum | case |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 15 drum | det |
| 15 | drum | drum | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 escape | obl |
| 16 | before | before | SCONJ | _ | 18 came | mark |
| 17 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 18 came | nsubj |
| 18 | came | come | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 12 escape | advcl |
| 19 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 22 brought | punct |
| 20 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 22 brought | cc |
| 21 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 22 brought | aux |
| 22 | brought | bring | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 3 told | conj |
| 23 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 25 razors | det |
| 24 | sharp | sharp | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 25 razors | amod |
| 25 | razors | razor | NOUN | Number=Plur | 22 brought | obj |
| 26 | to | to | PART | _ | 27 help | mark |
| 27 | help | help | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 22 brought | advcl |
| 28 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 27 help | obj |
| 29 | to | to | PART | _ | 30 cut | mark |
| 30 | cut | cut | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 27 help | xcomp |
| 31 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 32 way | nmod:poss |
| 32 | way | way | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 cut | obj |
| 33 | out | out | ADV | _ | 30 cut | advmod |
| 34 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 told | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | tell speech: assert | past | Inkang | people | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 2 | find out | past · perfect | Inkang | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 3 | escape | to-infinitive | the drum | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme from drum=Initial_Location | |||||
| 4 | come | past | Inkang | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 5 | bring | past · perfect | Inkang not said here | some sharp razors | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent razor=Theme | ||||
| 6 | help | to-infinitive | Inkang not said here | people | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent they=Beneficiary clause=Theme | ||||
| 7 | cut out | to-infinitive | people not said here | people's way | out property | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector way=Eventuality |
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/pg70959/14/120/