Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 126
All this time the men inside the drum were cutting away at his heart and liver with their razors, until at last the drum got up from his seat, and fell over dead.
Who acts: men, last drum · What happens: cut away, get up, fall over · To what, where: seat
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 (men, last drum), 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 | All | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 3 time | det:predet |
| 2 | this | this | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 3 time | det |
| 3 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 cutting | obl:unmarked |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 men | det |
| 5 | men | man | NOUN | Number=Plur | 10 cutting | nsubj |
| 6 | inside | inside | ADP | _ | 8 drum | case |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 drum | det |
| 8 | drum | drum | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 men | nmod |
| 9 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 10 cutting | aux |
| 10 | cutting | cut | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 11 | away | away | ADV | _ | 10 cutting | advmod |
| 12 | at | at | ADP | _ | 14 heart | case |
| 13 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 14 heart | nmod:poss |
| 14 | heart | heart | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 cutting | obl |
| 15 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 16 liver | cc |
| 16 | liver | liver | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 heart | conj |
| 17 | with | with | ADP | _ | 19 razors | case |
| 18 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 19 razors | nmod:poss |
| 19 | razors | razor | NOUN | Number=Plur | 16 liver | nmod |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 26 got | punct |
| 21 | until | until | SCONJ | _ | 26 got | mark |
| 22 | at | at | ADP | _ | 23 last | case |
| 23 | last | last | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 25 drum | amod |
| 24 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 25 drum | det |
| 25 | drum | drum | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 got | nsubj |
| 26 | got | get | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 10 cutting | parataxis |
| 27 | up | up | ADV | _ | 26 got | advmod |
| 28 | from | from | ADP | _ | 30 seat | case |
| 29 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 30 seat | nmod:poss |
| 30 | seat | seat | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 got | obl |
| 31 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 33 fell | punct |
| 32 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 33 fell | cc |
| 33 | fell | fall | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 26 got | conj |
| 34 | over | over | ADV | _ | 35 dead | advmod |
| 35 | dead | dead | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 33 fell | xcomp |
| 36 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 10 cutting | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | cut away | past · progressive | the men inside the drum | time | at man's heart and liver with razors's razors; away property | vn cut-21.1-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent at heart=Patient | |||
| 2 | get up | past | the last drum | man's seat | vn escape-51.1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme from seat=Destination | ||||
| 3 | fall over | past | the last drum not said here | dead property | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=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/pg70959/14/126/