Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2, sentence 16
For some time the people stood waiting for the enemy to appear, but they saw no signs of anyone until the Elephantiasis rolled up to them, when the hare called out “The enemy has come.”
Who acts: people, Elephantiasis, enemy · What happens: stand, wait, appear, see, roll up, call out · To what, where: signs, people, hare, anyone · 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 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (people, Elephantiasis, enemy), 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 | For | for | ADP | _ | 3 time | case |
| 2 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 3 time | det |
| 3 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 stood | obl |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 people | det |
| 5 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 stood | nsubj |
| 6 | stood | stand | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 7 | waiting | wait | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 6 stood | xcomp |
| 8 | for | for | ADP | _ | 10 enemy | case |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 enemy | det |
| 10 | enemy | enemy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 waiting | obl |
| 11 | to | to | PART | _ | 12 appear | mark |
| 12 | appear | appear | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 7 waiting | advcl |
| 13 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 16 saw | punct |
| 14 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 16 saw | cc |
| 15 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 16 saw | nsubj |
| 16 | saw | see | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 stood | conj |
| 17 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 18 signs | det |
| 18 | signs | sign | NOUN | Number=Plur | 16 saw | obj |
| 19 | of | of | ADP | _ | 20 anyone | case |
| 20 | anyone | anyone | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Ind | 18 signs | nmod |
| 21 | until | until | SCONJ | _ | 24 rolled | mark |
| 22 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 23 Elephantiasis | det |
| 23 | Elephantiasis | elephantiasis | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 rolled | nsubj |
| 24 | rolled | roll | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 16 saw | advcl |
| 25 | up | up | ADP | _ | 24 rolled | compound:prt |
| 26 | to | to | ADP | _ | 27 them | case |
| 27 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 24 rolled | obl |
| 28 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 32 called | punct |
| 29 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 32 called | advmod |
| 30 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 31 hare | det |
| 31 | hare | hare | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 called | nsubj:pass |
| 32 | called | call | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 24 rolled | parataxis |
| 33 | out | out | ADP | _ | 32 called | compound:prt |
| 34 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 38 come | punct |
| 35 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 36 enemy | det |
| 36 | enemy | enemy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 come | nsubj |
| 37 | has | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 38 come | aux |
| 38 | come | come | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 32 called | conj |
| 39 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 6 stood | punct |
| 40 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 6 stood | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | stand | past | the people | time | vn admire-31.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | ||||
| 2 | wait | gerund | the people not said here | for the enemy | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 3 | appear | to-infinitive | the people not said here | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 4 | see | past | people | no signs of anyone | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer sign=Stimulus | ||||
| 5 | roll up | past | the Elephantiasis | people | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme to they=Destination | ||||
| 6 | call out speech: assert | participle · passive | the hare | vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient | |||||
| 7 | come in a quote | present · perfect | the enemy | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 8 | sign | anyone | nom sign «communication transitive»: of=patient |
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/pg70959/19/16/