Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine., sentence 18
The hare managed with some difficulty to climb down the tree, but when he reached the ground he was afraid to cross over to the land from the island, as he thought the alligators or big fish might catch him.
Who acts: friend, alligators · What happens: manage, climb down, reach, be, cross over, think · To what, where: hare, tree, ground, island, friend · 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 (friend, alligators), 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 hare | det |
| 2 | hare | hare | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 managed | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | managed | manage | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 4 | with | with | ADP | _ | 6 difficulty | case |
| 5 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 6 difficulty | det |
| 6 | difficulty | difficulty | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 managed | obl |
| 7 | to | to | PART | _ | 8 climb | mark |
| 8 | climb | climb | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 3 managed | advcl |
| 9 | down | down | ADP | _ | 8 climb | compound:prt |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 tree | det |
| 11 | tree | tree | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 climb | obj |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 16 reached | punct |
| 13 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 16 reached | cc |
| 14 | when | when | SCONJ | _ | 16 reached | mark |
| 15 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 16 reached | nsubj |
| 16 | reached | reach | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 managed | parataxis |
| 17 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 18 ground | det |
| 18 | ground | ground | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 reached | obj |
| 19 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 21 afraid | nsubj |
| 20 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 21 afraid | cop |
| 21 | afraid | afraid | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 16 reached | advcl |
| 22 | to | to | PART | _ | 23 cross | mark |
| 23 | cross | cross | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 21 afraid | xcomp |
| 24 | over | over | ADV | _ | 23 cross | advmod |
| 25 | to | to | ADP | _ | 27 land | case |
| 26 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 27 land | det |
| 27 | land | land | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 cross | obl |
| 28 | from | from | ADP | _ | 30 island | case |
| 29 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 30 island | det |
| 30 | island | island | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 cross | obl |
| 31 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 34 thought | punct |
| 32 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 34 thought | mark |
| 33 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 34 thought | nsubj |
| 34 | thought | think | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 16 reached | conj |
| 35 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 36 alligators | det |
| 36 | alligators | alligator | NOUN | Number=Plur | 41 catch | nsubj |
| 37 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 39 fish | cc |
| 38 | big | big | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 39 fish | amod |
| 39 | fish | fish | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 alligators | conj |
| 40 | might | might | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 41 catch | aux |
| 41 | catch | catch | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 34 thought | ccomp |
| 42 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 41 catch | obj |
| 43 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 managed | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | manage | participle · passive | the hare | with some difficulty | vn caring-75.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | ||||
| 2 | climb down | to-infinitive | the tree | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial_Location tree=Theme | |||||
| 3 | reach | past | friend | the ground | vn body_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent ground=Theme | ||||
| 4 | is | past | friend | afraid property | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | cross over | to-infinitive | friend not said here | the island | to the land; over property | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V PP.initial_location PP.destination»: agent=Theme to land=Initial_Location from island=Destination | |||
| 6 | think speech: other | past | friend | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | |||||
| 7 | catch | might | the alligators or big fish | friend | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=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/pg70959/16/18/