Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 124
When they came, the big drum told them that he had a bad pain in his heart, and thought that the people he had swallowed must be trying to cut their way out.
Who acts: razors, big drum, man, people · What happens: come, tell, have, think, swallow, try · To what, where: razors, bad pain, heart, man, 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 (razors, big drum, man, 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 | When | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 3 came | advmod |
| 2 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 came | nsubj |
| 3 | came | come | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 told | advcl |
| 4 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 3 came | punct |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 drum | det |
| 6 | big | big | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 drum | amod |
| 7 | drum | drum | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 told | nsubj |
| 8 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 9 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 8 told | iobj |
| 10 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 12 had | mark |
| 11 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 12 had | nsubj |
| 12 | had | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 told | ccomp |
| 13 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 15 pain | det |
| 14 | bad | bad | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 15 pain | amod |
| 15 | pain | pain | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 had | obj |
| 16 | in | in | ADP | _ | 18 heart | case |
| 17 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 18 heart | nmod:poss |
| 18 | heart | heart | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 pain | nmod |
| 19 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 21 thought | punct |
| 20 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 21 thought | cc |
| 21 | thought | think | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 told | conj |
| 22 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 30 trying | mark |
| 23 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 24 people | det |
| 24 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 30 trying | nsubj |
| 25 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 27 swallowed | nsubj:pass |
| 26 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 27 swallowed | aux |
| 27 | swallowed | swallow | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 24 people | acl:relcl |
| 28 | must | must | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 30 trying | aux |
| 29 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 30 trying | aux |
| 30 | trying | try | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 21 thought | ccomp |
| 31 | to | to | PART | _ | 32 cut | mark |
| 32 | cut | cut | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 30 trying | xcomp |
| 33 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 34 way | nmod:poss |
| 34 | way | way | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 cut | obj |
| 35 | out | out | ADV | _ | 32 cut | advmod |
| 36 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 8 told | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | come | past | razors = razor | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 2 | tell speech: assert | past | the big drum | razors = razor | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 3 | have | past | man | a bad pain | man's heart | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pain=Patient | |||
| 4 | think speech: other | past | the big drum not said here | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | |||||
| 5 | swallow | past · perfect · passive | the people not said here | man | vn gobble-39.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient | ||||
| 6 | try | must · progressive | the people | vn try-61.1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | |||||
| 7 | cut out not said to happen | to-infinitive | the people not said here | razors'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/pg70959/14/124/