Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2, sentence 23
Not long after this the Elephantiasis rolled himself down to the stream, where he met the mother crab, looking very fierce, and asked her if she had seen the hare.
Who acts: Elephantiasis, hare, crab · What happens: roll down, meet, look, ask, see · To what, where: Elephantiasis, stream, mother crab, crab, 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 2. 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, crab), 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 | Not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 2 long | advmod |
| 2 | long | long | ADV | Degree=Pos | 7 rolled | advmod |
| 3 | after | after | ADP | _ | 4 this | case |
| 4 | this | this | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 2 long | obl |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 Elephantiasis | det |
| 6 | Elephantiasis | Elephantiasis | PROPN | Number=Sing | 7 rolled | nsubj |
| 7 | rolled | roll | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 8 | himself | himself | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes | 7 rolled | obj |
| 9 | down | down | ADP | _ | 7 rolled | compound:prt |
| 10 | to | to | ADP | _ | 12 stream | case |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 stream | det |
| 12 | stream | stream | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 rolled | obl |
| 13 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 16 met | punct |
| 14 | where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 16 met | advmod |
| 15 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 16 met | nsubj |
| 16 | met | meet | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 rolled | conj |
| 17 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 19 crab | det |
| 18 | mother | mother | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 crab | compound |
| 19 | crab | crab | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 met | obj |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 21 looking | punct |
| 21 | looking | look | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 16 met | advcl |
| 22 | very | very | ADV | _ | 23 fierce | advmod |
| 23 | fierce | fierce | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 21 looking | xcomp |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 26 asked | punct |
| 25 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 26 asked | cc |
| 26 | asked | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 rolled | parataxis |
| 27 | her | she | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 26 asked | iobj |
| 28 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 31 seen | mark |
| 29 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 31 seen | nsubj |
| 30 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 31 seen | aux |
| 31 | seen | see | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 26 asked | advcl |
| 32 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 33 hare | det |
| 33 | hare | hare | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 seen | obj |
| 34 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 7 rolled | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | roll down | past | the Elephantiasis | Elephantiasis | the stream | long property | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent himself=Theme to stream=Trajectory | ||
| 2 | meet | past | hare | the mother crab | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent crab=Co-Agent | ||||
| 3 | look | gerund | hare not said here | fierce property | vn stimulus_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus | ||||
| 4 | ask speech: ask | past | crab | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent she=Recipient | |||||
| 5 | see a condition, not said to happen | past · perfect | crab | the hare | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer hare=Stimulus |
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/pg70959/19/23/