Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 31
As he was unable to walk, he crawled along the path on his hands and knees, rolling the head in front of him.
Who acts: cripple · What happens: be, walk, crawl, roll · To what, where: hands, head, front
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 (cripple), 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 | As | as | SCONJ | _ | 4 unable | mark |
| 2 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 unable | nsubj |
| 3 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 unable | cop |
| 4 | unable | unable | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 5 | to | to | PART | _ | 6 walk | mark |
| 6 | walk | walk | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 4 unable | xcomp |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 9 crawled | punct |
| 8 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 9 crawled | nsubj |
| 9 | crawled | crawl | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 unable | parataxis |
| 10 | along | along | ADP | _ | 12 path | case |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 path | det |
| 12 | path | path | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 crawled | obl |
| 13 | on | on | ADP | _ | 15 hands | case |
| 14 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 15 hands | nmod:poss |
| 15 | hands | hand | NOUN | Number=Plur | 9 crawled | obl |
| 16 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 17 knees | cc |
| 17 | knees | knee | NOUN | Number=Plur | 15 hands | conj |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 19 rolling | punct |
| 19 | rolling | roll | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 9 crawled | advcl |
| 20 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 21 head | det |
| 21 | head | head | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 rolling | obj |
| 22 | in | in | ADP | _ | 23 front | case |
| 23 | front | front | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 rolling | obl |
| 24 | of | of | ADP | _ | 25 him | case |
| 25 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 23 front | nmod |
| 26 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 unable | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | cripple | unable property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | walk | to-infinitive | cripple not said here | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 3 | crawl | past | cripple | cripple's hands and knees | along the path | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme along path=Trajectory | |||
| 4 | roll | gerund | cripple not said here | the head | front of cripple | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent head=Theme in front=Trajectory |
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/pg70959/14/31/