Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxii.--a Story of the Great Famine., sentence 47
Seeing that the canoe did not return, the alligator dived into the river and swam after the canoe, but before he could catch it the hare had jumped to the land and ran up the bank.
Who acts: alligator, canoe, iguana · What happens: see, not return, dive, swim, catch, jump · To what, where: river, canoe, bank · 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 (alligator, canoe, iguana), 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 | Seeing | see | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 11 dived | advcl |
| 2 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 7 return | mark |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 canoe | det |
| 4 | canoe | canoe | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 return | nsubj |
| 5 | did | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 return | aux |
| 6 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 7 return | advmod |
| 7 | return | return | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 1 Seeing | ccomp |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 Seeing | punct |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 alligator | det |
| 10 | alligator | alligator | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 dived | nsubj |
| 11 | dived | dive | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 12 | into | into | ADP | _ | 14 river | case |
| 13 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 river | det |
| 14 | river | river | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 dived | obl |
| 15 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 16 swam | cc |
| 16 | swam | swim | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 11 dived | conj |
| 17 | after | after | ADP | _ | 19 canoe | case |
| 18 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 19 canoe | det |
| 19 | canoe | canoe | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 swam | obl |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 25 catch | punct |
| 21 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 25 catch | cc |
| 22 | before | before | SCONJ | _ | 25 catch | mark |
| 23 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 25 catch | nsubj |
| 24 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 25 catch | aux |
| 25 | catch | catch | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 11 dived | conj |
| 26 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 25 catch | obj |
| 27 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 28 hare | det |
| 28 | hare | hare | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 catch | obj |
| 29 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 30 jumped | aux |
| 30 | jumped | jump | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 25 catch | conj |
| 31 | to | to | ADP | _ | 33 land | case |
| 32 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 33 land | det |
| 33 | land | land | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 jumped | obl |
| 34 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 35 ran | cc |
| 35 | ran | run | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 30 jumped | conj |
| 36 | up | up | ADP | _ | 35 ran | compound:prt |
| 37 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 38 bank | det |
| 38 | bank | bank | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 ran | obj |
| 39 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 11 dived | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | see | gerund | the alligator not said here | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | |||||
| 2 | not return | past · do-support | the canoe | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 3 | dive | past | the alligator | the river | vn meander-47.7 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into river=Location | ||||
| 4 | swim | past | the alligator not said here | after the canoe | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 5 | catch | could | iguana | canoe | the hare obj | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP.beneficiary NP»: agent=Agent it=Beneficiary hare=Theme | |||
| 6 | jump | past | iguana not said here | to the land result | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme to land=Result | ||||
| 7 | run up | past | iguana not said here | the bank | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme bank=Trajectory |
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/pg70959/16/47/