Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 1, sentence 64
So the Elephantiasis, who really was hungry, agreed to stop on the ground, and the hare, relieved of the great weight, at once climbed the rubber vine and commenced to throw down the fruit, which the Elephantiasis gathered and put in the bag.
Who acts: Elephantiasis, hare · What happens: be, agree, stop, climb, commence, throw down · To what, where: ground, rubber vine, fruit, bag
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 | So | so | ADV | _ | 8 hungry | advmod |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 Elephantiasis | det |
| 3 | Elephantiasis | Elephantiasis | PROPN | Number=Sing | 8 hungry | nsubj |
| 4 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 8 hungry | punct |
| 5 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 8 hungry | nsubj |
| 6 | really | really | ADV | _ | 8 hungry | advmod |
| 7 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 hungry | cop |
| 8 | hungry | hungry | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 10 agreed | punct |
| 10 | agreed | agree | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 8 hungry | conj |
| 11 | to | to | PART | _ | 12 stop | mark |
| 12 | stop | stop | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 10 agreed | xcomp |
| 13 | on | on | ADP | _ | 15 ground | case |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 15 ground | det |
| 15 | ground | ground | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 stop | obl |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 21 relieved | punct |
| 17 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 21 relieved | cc |
| 18 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 19 hare | det |
| 19 | hare | hare | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 relieved | nsubj |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 21 relieved | punct |
| 21 | relieved | relieved | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 hungry | conj |
| 22 | of | of | ADP | _ | 25 weight | case |
| 23 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 25 weight | det |
| 24 | great | great | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 25 weight | amod |
| 25 | weight | weight | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 relieved | obl |
| 26 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 29 climbed | punct |
| 27 | at | at | SCONJ | _ | 29 climbed | mark |
| 28 | once | once | ADV | NumForm=Word NumType=Mult | 29 climbed | advmod |
| 29 | climbed | climb | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 hungry | parataxis |
| 30 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 32 vine | det |
| 31 | rubber | rubber | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 vine | compound |
| 32 | vine | vine | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 climbed | obj |
| 33 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 34 commenced | cc |
| 34 | commenced | commence | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 29 climbed | conj |
| 35 | to | to | PART | _ | 36 throw | mark |
| 36 | throw | throw | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 34 commenced | xcomp |
| 37 | down | down | ADP | _ | 36 throw | compound:prt |
| 38 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 39 fruit | det |
| 39 | fruit | fruit | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 throw | obj |
| 40 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 44 gathered | punct |
| 41 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 44 gathered | obj |
| 42 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 43 Elephantiasis | det |
| 43 | Elephantiasis | Elephantiasis | PROPN | Number=Sing | 44 gathered | nsubj |
| 44 | gathered | gather | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 39 fruit | parataxis |
| 45 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 46 put | cc |
| 46 | put | put | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 44 gathered | conj |
| 47 | in | in | ADP | _ | 49 bag | case |
| 48 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 49 bag | det |
| 49 | bag | bag | NOUN | Number=Sing | 46 put | obl |
| 50 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 8 hungry | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | the Elephantiasis | who nsubj; hungry property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | agree speech: agree | participle | the Elephantiasis not said here | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 3 | stop not said to happen | to-infinitive | the Elephantiasis not said here | the ground | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | ||||
| 4 | be | the hare | of the great weight | tree rules | |||||
| 5 | climb | past | the rubber vine | once property | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial_Location vine=Theme | ||||
| 6 | commence | past | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | ||||||
| 7 | throw down | to-infinitive | the fruit | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fruit=Theme | |||||
| 8 | gather | past | the Elephantiasis | the fruit | vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent which=Theme | ||||
| 9 | put | participle | the Elephantiasis not said here | the bag | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in bag=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/pg70959/18/64/