Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxi.--why the Head of the Male Goat Smells So Strong., sentence 20
When he got to the town he put the hawk’s feather on the ground in a place where everyone could see it, and then went for a walk round the town, eating a few freshly fallen leaves from the ju-ju tree as he went.
Who acts: play, everyone · What happens: get, put, see, go, eat, fall · To what, where: feather, ground, place, few fallen leaves, ju ju tree
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxi.--why the Head of the Male Goat Smells So Strong.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (play, everyone), 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 got | advmod |
| 2 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 got | nsubj |
| 3 | got | get | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 put | advcl |
| 4 | to | to | ADP | _ | 6 town | case |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 town | det |
| 6 | town | town | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 got | obl |
| 7 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 8 put | nsubj |
| 8 | put | put | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 hawk | det |
| 10 | hawk | hawk | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 feather | nmod:poss |
| 11 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 10 hawk | case |
| 12 | feather | feather | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 put | obj |
| 13 | on | on | ADP | _ | 15 ground | case |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 15 ground | det |
| 15 | ground | ground | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 put | obl |
| 16 | in | in | ADP | _ | 18 place | case |
| 17 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 18 place | det |
| 18 | place | place | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 put | obl |
| 19 | where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 22 see | advmod |
| 20 | everyone | everyone | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Tot | 22 see | nsubj |
| 21 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 22 see | aux |
| 22 | see | see | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 18 place | acl:relcl |
| 23 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 22 see | obj |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 27 went | punct |
| 25 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 27 went | cc |
| 26 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 27 went | advmod |
| 27 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 put | conj |
| 28 | for | for | ADP | _ | 30 walk | case |
| 29 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 30 walk | det |
| 30 | walk | walk | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 went | obl |
| 31 | round | round | ADP | _ | 33 town | case |
| 32 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 33 town | det |
| 33 | town | town | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 walk | nmod |
| 34 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 35 eating | punct |
| 35 | eating | eat | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 27 went | advcl |
| 36 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 40 leaves | det |
| 37 | few | few | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 40 leaves | amod |
| 38 | freshly | freshly | ADV | _ | 39 fallen | advmod |
| 39 | fallen | fall | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 40 leaves | amod |
| 40 | leaves | leaf | NOUN | Number=Plur | 35 eating | obj |
| 41 | from | from | ADP | _ | 46 tree | case |
| 42 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 46 tree | det |
| 43 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 46 tree | compound |
| 44 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 43 ju | punct |
| 45 | ju | ju | PROPN | Number=Sing | 46 tree | compound |
| 46 | tree | tree | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 eating | obl |
| 47 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 49 went | mark |
| 48 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 49 went | nsubj |
| 49 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 35 eating | advcl |
| 50 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 8 put | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | get | past | play | to the town result | vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Patient to town=Result | ||||
| 2 | put | past | play | the hawk's feather | the ground | in a place | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent feather=Theme on ground=Destination | ||
| 3 | see | could | everyone | place | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus | ||||
| 4 | go | past | play not said here | then | for a walk round the town | vn help-72.1-2 «NP V PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent for walk=Beneficiary | |||
| 5 | eat | gerund | play not said here | a few fallen leaves | the ju ju tree | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent leaf=Patient | |||
| 6 | fall | participle | freshly property | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 7 | go | past | play | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «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/pg70959/15/20/