Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2, sentence 38
During the time the old crab had been fighting the Elephantiasis, the hare had been very busy, and had killed and eaten three of the crab’s children, and then threw their shells behind the fireplace near to where the old crab used to keep her salt.
Who acts: old crab, hare · What happens: fight, be, kill, eat, throw, use · To what, where: Elephantiasis, three, shells, fireplace, old crab, salt
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 (old crab, 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 | During | during | ADP | _ | 3 time | case |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 time | det |
| 3 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 busy | obl |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 crab | det |
| 5 | old | old | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 crab | amod |
| 6 | crab | crab | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 fighting | nsubj |
| 7 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 fighting | aux |
| 8 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 9 fighting | aux |
| 9 | fighting | fight | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 3 time | acl:relcl |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 Elephantiasis | det |
| 11 | Elephantiasis | Elephantiasis | PROPN | Number=Sing | 9 fighting | obj |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 3 time | punct |
| 13 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 hare | det |
| 14 | hare | hare | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 busy | nsubj |
| 15 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 18 busy | aux |
| 16 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 18 busy | cop |
| 17 | very | very | ADV | _ | 18 busy | advmod |
| 18 | busy | busy | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 19 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 22 killed | punct |
| 20 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 22 killed | cc |
| 21 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 22 killed | aux |
| 22 | killed | kill | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 18 busy | parataxis |
| 23 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 24 eaten | cc |
| 24 | eaten | eat | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 22 killed | conj |
| 25 | three | three | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 24 eaten | obj |
| 26 | of | of | ADP | _ | 30 children | case |
| 27 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 28 crab | det |
| 28 | crab | crab | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 children | nmod:poss |
| 29 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 28 crab | case |
| 30 | children | child | NOUN | Number=Plur | 25 three | nmod |
| 31 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 34 threw | punct |
| 32 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 34 threw | cc |
| 33 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 34 threw | advmod |
| 34 | threw | throw | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 18 busy | parataxis |
| 35 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 36 shells | nmod:poss |
| 36 | shells | shell | NOUN | Number=Plur | 34 threw | obj |
| 37 | behind | behind | ADP | _ | 39 fireplace | case |
| 38 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 39 fireplace | det |
| 39 | fireplace | fireplace | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 threw | obl |
| 40 | near | near | ADV | _ | 42 where | advmod |
| 41 | to | to | ADP | _ | 42 where | case |
| 42 | where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 34 threw | conj |
| 43 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 45 crab | det |
| 44 | old | old | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 45 crab | amod |
| 45 | crab | crab | NOUN | Number=Sing | 42 where | nsubj |
| 46 | used | use | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 45 crab | acl |
| 47 | to | to | PART | _ | 48 keep | mark |
| 48 | keep | keep | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 46 used | advcl |
| 49 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 50 salt | nmod:poss |
| 50 | salt | salt | NOUN | Number=Sing | 48 keep | obj |
| 51 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 18 busy | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | fight | past · perfect · progressive | the old crab | the Elephantiasis | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent elephantiasis=Co-Agent | ||||
| 2 | is | past · perfect | the hare | time | busy property | tree rules | |||
| 3 | kill | past · perfect | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer | ||||||
| 4 | eat | participle | three of the crab's children | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent three=Patient | |||||
| 5 | throw | past | children's shells | the fireplace | then | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent shell=Theme behind fireplace=Destination | |||
| 6 | use | participle | the old crab not said here | vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 7 | keep | to-infinitive | crab's salt | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent salt=Theme |
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/pg70959/19/38/