Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 1, sentence 60
The Elephantiasis replied that the hare could relieve himself quite well without his going away, so the hare was compelled to do so; he then returned to the path again.
Who acts: Elephantiasis, hare · What happens: reply, relieve, go away, compel, do, return · To what, where: ELEPHANTIASIS, hare
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 (Elephantiasis, hare), 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 Elephantiasis | det |
| 2 | Elephantiasis | Elephantiasis | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 replied | nsubj |
| 3 | replied | reply | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 8 relieve | mark |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 hare | det |
| 6 | hare | hare | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 relieve | nsubj |
| 7 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 8 relieve | aux |
| 8 | relieve | relieve | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 3 replied | ccomp |
| 9 | himself | himself | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes | 8 relieve | obj |
| 10 | quite | quite | ADV | _ | 11 well | advmod |
| 11 | well | well | ADV | Degree=Pos | 8 relieve | advmod |
| 12 | without | without | SCONJ | _ | 14 going | mark |
| 13 | his | his | PRON | Gender=Masc Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 14 going | nsubj |
| 14 | going | go | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 8 relieve | advcl |
| 15 | away | away | ADV | _ | 14 going | advmod |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 21 compelled | punct |
| 17 | so | so | ADV | _ | 21 compelled | advmod |
| 18 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 19 hare | det |
| 19 | hare | hare | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 compelled | nsubj:pass |
| 20 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 21 compelled | aux:pass |
| 21 | compelled | compel | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 3 replied | conj |
| 22 | to | to | PART | _ | 23 do | mark |
| 23 | do | do | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 21 compelled | xcomp |
| 24 | so | so | ADV | _ | 23 do | advmod |
| 25 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 28 returned | punct |
| 26 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 28 returned | nsubj |
| 27 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 28 returned | advmod |
| 28 | returned | return | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 replied | conj |
| 29 | to | to | ADP | _ | 31 path | case |
| 30 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 31 path | det |
| 31 | path | path | NOUN | Number=Sing | 28 returned | obl |
| 32 | again | again | ADV | _ | 28 returned | advmod |
| 33 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 replied | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | reply speech: assert | past | the Elephantiasis | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 2 | relieve | could | the hare | ELEPHANTIASIS | well property | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus himself=Experiencer | |||
| 3 | go away | gerund | ELEPHANTIASIS | away property | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 4 | compel | past · passive | the hare | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: subject=Patient clause=Result | |||||
| 5 | do | to-infinitive | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||||
| 6 | return | past | ELEPHANTIASIS | then; again | to the path result | vn convert-26.6.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Patient to path=Result |
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/pg70959/18/60/