Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine., sentence 29
The next day the alligators built the house, and did everything the hare told them, a small hole being left in the wall of the house so that the hare could show the alligators each child as he painted it.
Who acts: alligators, hare, hole · What happens: build, do, tell, leave, show, paint · To what, where: house, everything, alligators, small hole, wall, child · 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 (alligators, hare, hole), 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 | 3 day | det |
| 2 | next | next | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 day | amod |
| 3 | day | day | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 built | obl:unmarked |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 alligators | det |
| 5 | alligators | alligator | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 built | nsubj |
| 6 | built | build | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 house | det |
| 8 | house | house | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 built | obj |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 11 did | punct |
| 10 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 11 did | cc |
| 11 | did | do | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 built | conj |
| 12 | everything | everything | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Tot | 11 did | obj |
| 13 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 hare | det |
| 14 | hare | hare | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 told | nsubj |
| 15 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 11 did | parataxis |
| 16 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 15 told | iobj |
| 17 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 22 left | punct |
| 18 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 20 hole | det |
| 19 | small | small | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 20 hole | amod |
| 20 | hole | hole | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 left | nsubj:pass |
| 21 | being | be | AUX | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 22 left | aux:pass |
| 22 | left | leave | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 15 told | conj |
| 23 | in | in | ADP | _ | 25 wall | case |
| 24 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 25 wall | det |
| 25 | wall | wall | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 left | obl |
| 26 | of | of | ADP | _ | 28 house | case |
| 27 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 28 house | det |
| 28 | house | house | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 wall | nmod |
| 29 | so | so | SCONJ | ExtPos=SCONJ | 34 show | mark |
| 30 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 29 so | fixed |
| 31 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 32 hare | det |
| 32 | hare | hare | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 show | nsubj |
| 33 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 34 show | aux |
| 34 | show | show | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 22 left | advcl |
| 35 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 36 alligators | det |
| 36 | alligators | alligator | NOUN | Number=Plur | 34 show | obj |
| 37 | each | each | DET | PronType=Tot | 38 child | det |
| 38 | child | child | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 show | obj |
| 39 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 41 painted | mark |
| 40 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 41 painted | nsubj |
| 41 | painted | paint | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 34 show | advcl |
| 42 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 41 painted | obj |
| 43 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 6 built | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | build | past | the alligators | the house | day | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent house=Product | |||
| 2 | do | past | the alligators not said here | everything | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent everything=Eventuality | ||||
| 3 | tell speech: assert | past | the hare | alligators = alligator | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Recipient | ||||
| 4 | leave | gerund · passive | a small hole | the wall of the house | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Theme in wall=Location | ||||
| 5 | show | could | the hare | each child | the alligators | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent alligator=Recipient child=Topic | |||
| 6 | paint | past | hole | house | vn image_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent it=Destination |
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/pg70959/16/29/