Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 1, sentence 56
The hare said he had nothing to give just then, and got up to go away, but found that a certain portion of his body had swollen to such a size that it touched the ground when he stood up.
Who acts: hare, Okpa, portion · What happens: say, have, give, get up, go away, find · To what, where: nothing, certain portion, ground · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (hare, Okpa, portion), 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 said | nsubj |
| 3 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 had | nsubj |
| 5 | had | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 said | ccomp |
| 6 | nothing | nothing | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Neg | 5 had | obj |
| 7 | to | to | PART | _ | 8 give | mark |
| 8 | give | give | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 6 nothing | acl |
| 9 | just | just | ADV | _ | 10 then | advmod |
| 10 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 8 give | advmod |
| 11 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 13 got | punct |
| 12 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 13 got | cc |
| 13 | got | get | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 said | conj |
| 14 | up | up | ADP | _ | 13 got | compound:prt |
| 15 | to | to | PART | _ | 16 go | mark |
| 16 | go | go | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 13 got | xcomp |
| 17 | away | away | ADV | _ | 16 go | advmod |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 found | punct |
| 19 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 20 found | cc |
| 20 | found | find | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 said | conj |
| 21 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 29 swollen | mark |
| 22 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 24 portion | det |
| 23 | certain | certain | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 24 portion | amod |
| 24 | portion | portion | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 swollen | nsubj:pass |
| 25 | of | of | ADP | _ | 27 body | case |
| 26 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 27 body | nmod:poss |
| 27 | body | body | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 portion | nmod |
| 28 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 29 swollen | aux |
| 29 | swollen | swell | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 20 found | ccomp |
| 30 | to | to | ADP | _ | 33 size | case |
| 31 | such | such | DET | PronType=Ind | 33 size | det:predet |
| 32 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 33 size | det |
| 33 | size | size | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 swollen | obl |
| 34 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 36 touched | mark |
| 35 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 36 touched | nsubj |
| 36 | touched | touch | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 29 swollen | advcl |
| 37 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 38 ground | det |
| 38 | ground | ground | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 touched | obj |
| 39 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 41 stood | advmod |
| 40 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 41 stood | nsubj |
| 41 | stood | stand | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 36 touched | conj |
| 42 | up | up | ADP | _ | 41 stood | compound:prt |
| 43 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 said | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | past | the hare | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 2 | have | past | Okpa | nothing | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nothing=Patient | ||||
| 3 | give | to-infinitive | Okpa not said here | nothing not said here | then | vn break_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient | |||
| 4 | get up | past | the hare not said here | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V how S_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | |||||
| 5 | go away | to-infinitive | the hare not said here | away property | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 6 | find | past | the hare not said here | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | |||||
| 7 | swell | past · perfect · passive | a certain portion of Okpa's body | to such size result | vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.patient V NP.extent PP.source PP.goal»: subject=Extent to size=Result | ||||
| 8 | touch | past | portion | the ground | vn contiguous_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme ground=Co-Theme | ||||
| 9 | stand up | past | Okpa | vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
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/pg70959/18/56/