Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 98
The girl then began to be afraid and looked round to see how she could escape, but the path she had come by had closed up and there was no way out, as she was entirely surrounded by thick bush.
Who acts: girl, way, thick bush · What happens: begin, be, look, see, escape, come by · To what, where: path, 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 (girl, way, thick bush), 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 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 girl | det |
| 2 | girl | girl | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 began | nsubj |
| 3 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 4 began | advmod |
| 4 | began | begin | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | to | to | PART | _ | 7 afraid | mark |
| 6 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 7 afraid | cop |
| 7 | afraid | afraid | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 began | xcomp |
| 8 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 9 looked | cc |
| 9 | looked | look | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 began | conj |
| 10 | round | round | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 9 looked | xcomp |
| 11 | to | to | PART | _ | 12 see | mark |
| 12 | see | see | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 10 round | advcl |
| 13 | how | how | ADV | PronType=Int | 16 escape | advmod |
| 14 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 16 escape | nsubj |
| 15 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 16 escape | aux |
| 16 | escape | escape | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 12 see | ccomp |
| 17 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 26 closed | punct |
| 18 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 26 closed | cc |
| 19 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 path | det |
| 20 | path | path | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 closed | nsubj:pass |
| 21 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 23 come | nsubj |
| 22 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 23 come | aux |
| 23 | come | come | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 20 path | acl:relcl |
| 24 | by | by | ADP | _ | 23 come | obl |
| 25 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 26 closed | aux |
| 26 | closed | close | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 4 began | parataxis |
| 27 | up | up | ADP | _ | 26 closed | compound:prt |
| 28 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 30 was | cc |
| 29 | there | there | PRON | PronType=Dem | 30 was | expl |
| 30 | was | be | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 26 closed | conj |
| 31 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 32 way | det |
| 32 | way | way | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 was | nsubj |
| 33 | out | out | ADV | _ | 32 way | advmod |
| 34 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 39 surrounded | punct |
| 35 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 39 surrounded | mark |
| 36 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 39 surrounded | nsubj:pass |
| 37 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 39 surrounded | aux:pass |
| 38 | entirely | entirely | ADV | _ | 39 surrounded | advmod |
| 39 | surrounded | surround | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 26 closed | advcl |
| 40 | by | by | ADP | _ | 42 bush | case |
| 41 | thick | thick | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 42 bush | amod |
| 42 | bush | bush | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 surrounded | obl:agent |
| 43 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 began | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | begin | past | the girl | then | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | ||||
| 2 | is | to-infinitive | the girl not said here | afraid property | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | look | past | the girl not said here | round property | vn stimulus_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus | ||||
| 4 | see | to-infinitive | the girl not said here | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | |||||
| 5 | escape | could | girl | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 6 | come by | past · perfect | girl | the path not said here | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location path=Theme | ||||
| 7 | close up | past · perfect · passive | the path | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient | |||||
| 8 | be | past | no way | there | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 9 | surround | past · passive | thick bush | way | entirely property | vn contiguous_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme subject=Co-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/pg70959/14/98/