Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine., sentence 12
The parrot did not notice this, as he thought that some of his family were also eating close at hand, so he continued to put nuts into the bag, but could not understand why it was that the bag did not get full.
Who acts: parrot, plenty, some, bag · What happens: not notice, think, eat, continue, put, not understand · To what, where: this, nuts, bag · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (parrot, plenty, some, bag), 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 parrot | det |
| 2 | parrot | parrot | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 notice | nsubj |
| 3 | did | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 notice | aux |
| 4 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 5 notice | advmod |
| 5 | notice | notice | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 6 | this | this | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 5 notice | obj |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 10 thought | punct |
| 8 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 10 thought | mark |
| 9 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 10 thought | nsubj |
| 10 | thought | think | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 notice | parataxis |
| 11 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 18 eating | mark |
| 12 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 18 eating | nsubj |
| 13 | of | of | ADP | _ | 15 family | case |
| 14 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 15 family | nmod:poss |
| 15 | family | family | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 some | nmod |
| 16 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 18 eating | aux |
| 17 | also | also | ADV | _ | 18 eating | advmod |
| 18 | eating | eat | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 10 thought | ccomp |
| 19 | close | close | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 18 eating | xcomp |
| 20 | at | at | ADP | _ | 21 hand | case |
| 21 | hand | hand | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 close | obl |
| 22 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 25 continued | punct |
| 23 | so | so | ADV | _ | 25 continued | advmod |
| 24 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 25 continued | nsubj |
| 25 | continued | continue | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 notice | parataxis |
| 26 | to | to | PART | _ | 27 put | mark |
| 27 | put | put | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 25 continued | xcomp |
| 28 | nuts | nut | NOUN | Number=Plur | 27 put | obj |
| 29 | into | into | ADP | _ | 31 bag | case |
| 30 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 31 bag | det |
| 31 | bag | bag | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 put | obl |
| 32 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 36 understand | punct |
| 33 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 36 understand | cc |
| 34 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 36 understand | aux |
| 35 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 36 understand | advmod |
| 36 | understand | understand | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | 5 notice | parataxis |
| 37 | why | why | ADV | PronType=Int | 45 get | advmod |
| 38 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 45 get | nsubj |
| 39 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 45 get | cop |
| 40 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 45 get | mark |
| 41 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 42 bag | det |
| 42 | bag | bag | NOUN | Number=Sing | 45 get | nsubj |
| 43 | did | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 45 get | aux |
| 44 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 45 get | advmod |
| 45 | get | get | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 36 understand | advcl |
| 46 | full | full | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 45 get | xcomp |
| 47 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 notice | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not notice | past · do-support | the parrot | this | vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer this=Stimulus | ||||
| 2 | think speech: other | past | plenty | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | |||||
| 3 | eat | past · progressive | some of plenty's family | close property | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 4 | continue | past | plenty | vn continue-55.3 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | |||||
| 5 | put | to-infinitive | plenty not said here | nuts | the bag | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent nut=Goal | |||
| 6 | not understand | could | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | ||||||
| 7 | not is | past · do-support | bag | full, get property | tree rules |
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/pg70959/16/12/