Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 75
About this time, many people from the surrounding towns and countries disappeared and were never seen or heard of again, until at last it became known that one of these wooden drums lived in a town in the bush not far from Ikom, and if anyone strayed into the wooden drum’s town by accident he was swallowed alive and was never seen again.
Who acts: many people, town, one, anyone, accident · What happens: disappear, not see, hear, become, know, live · To what, where: town, message
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 (many people, town, one, anyone), 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 | About | about | ADP | _ | 3 time | case |
| 2 | this | this | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 3 time | det |
| 3 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 disappeared | obl |
| 4 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 3 time | punct |
| 5 | many | many | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 people | amod |
| 6 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 13 disappeared | nsubj |
| 7 | from | from | ADP | _ | 10 towns | case |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 towns | det |
| 9 | surrounding | surrounding | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 towns | compound |
| 10 | towns | town | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 people | nmod |
| 11 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 12 countries | cc |
| 12 | countries | country | NOUN | Number=Plur | 10 towns | conj |
| 13 | disappeared | disappear | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 14 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 17 seen | cc |
| 15 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 17 seen | aux:pass |
| 16 | never | never | ADV | PronType=Neg | 17 seen | advmod |
| 17 | seen | see | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 13 disappeared | ccomp |
| 18 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 19 heard | cc |
| 19 | heard | hear | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 17 seen | conj |
| 20 | of | of | ADP | _ | 21 again | case |
| 21 | again | again | ADV | _ | 19 heard | obl |
| 22 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 25 last | punct |
| 23 | until | until | ADP | _ | 25 last | case |
| 24 | at | at | ADP | _ | 25 last | case |
| 25 | last | last | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 17 seen | conj |
| 26 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 27 became | nsubj |
| 27 | became | become | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 25 last | acl:relcl |
| 28 | known | know | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 27 became | xcomp |
| 29 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 35 lived | mark |
| 30 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 35 lived | nsubj |
| 31 | of | of | ADP | _ | 34 drums | case |
| 32 | these | this | DET | Number=Plur PronType=Dem | 34 drums | det |
| 33 | wooden | wooden | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 34 drums | amod |
| 34 | drums | drum | NOUN | Number=Plur | 30 one | nmod |
| 35 | lived | live | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 28 known | advcl |
| 36 | in | in | ADP | _ | 38 town | case |
| 37 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 38 town | det |
| 38 | town | town | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 lived | obl |
| 39 | in | in | ADP | _ | 41 bush | case |
| 40 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 41 bush | det |
| 41 | bush | bush | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 town | nmod |
| 42 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 43 far | advmod |
| 43 | far | far | ADV | Degree=Pos | 41 bush | advmod |
| 44 | from | from | ADP | _ | 45 Ikom | case |
| 45 | Ikom | Ikom | PROPN | Number=Sing | 43 far | obl |
| 46 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 50 strayed | punct |
| 47 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 50 strayed | cc |
| 48 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 50 strayed | mark |
| 49 | anyone | anyone | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Ind | 50 strayed | nsubj |
| 50 | strayed | stray | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 13 disappeared | conj |
| 51 | into | into | ADP | _ | 56 town | case |
| 52 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 54 drum | det |
| 53 | wooden | wooden | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 54 drum | amod |
| 54 | drum | drum | NOUN | Number=Sing | 56 town | nmod:poss |
| 55 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 54 drum | case |
| 56 | town | town | NOUN | Number=Sing | 50 strayed | obl |
| 57 | by | by | ADP | _ | 58 accident | case |
| 58 | accident | accident | NOUN | Number=Sing | 50 strayed | obl |
| 59 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 61 swallowed | nsubj:pass |
| 60 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 61 swallowed | aux:pass |
| 61 | swallowed | swallow | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 58 accident | acl:relcl |
| 62 | alive | alive | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 61 swallowed | xcomp |
| 63 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 66 seen | cc |
| 64 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 66 seen | aux:pass |
| 65 | never | never | ADV | PronType=Neg | 66 seen | advmod |
| 66 | seen | see | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 50 strayed | conj |
| 67 | again | again | ADV | _ | 66 seen | advmod |
| 68 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 13 disappeared | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | disappear | past | many people from the surrounding towns and countries | time | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | not see | past · passive | many people from the surrounding towns and countries not said here | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V» | |||||
| 3 | hear | participle | many people from the surrounding towns and countries not said here | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer of again=Stimulus | |||||
| 4 | become | past | town | tree rules | |||||
| 5 | know | participle | town not said here | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | |||||
| 6 | live | past | one of this wooden drums | a town in the bush | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in town=Location | ||||
| 7 | stray a condition, not said to happen | participle | anyone | the wooden drum's town | by accident | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into town=Destination | |||
| 8 | swallow | past · passive | accident not said here | message | alive property | vn gobble-39.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient | |||
| 9 | not see | past · passive | anyone not said here | again | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V» |
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/pg70959/14/75/