Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2, sentence 4
Shortly afterwards the Elephantiasis rolled himself up to where the people were working and asked them whether they had seen the hare pass that way, but the people told him that the hare had not called at their farm.
Who acts: Elephantiasis, people, hare · What happens: roll up, work, ask, see, pass, tell · To what, where: Elephantiasis, people, hare, way · 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 (Elephantiasis, people, 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 | Shortly | shortly | ADV | _ | 2 afterwards | advmod |
| 2 | afterwards | afterwards | ADV | _ | 5 rolled | advmod |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 Elephantiasis | det |
| 4 | Elephantiasis | Elephantiasis | PROPN | Number=Sing | 5 rolled | nsubj |
| 5 | rolled | roll | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | himself | himself | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes | 5 rolled | obj |
| 7 | up | up | ADP | _ | 5 rolled | compound:prt |
| 8 | to | to | SCONJ | _ | 13 working | mark |
| 9 | where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 13 working | advmod |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 people | det |
| 11 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 13 working | nsubj |
| 12 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 13 working | aux |
| 13 | working | work | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 5 rolled | advcl |
| 14 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 15 asked | cc |
| 15 | asked | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 rolled | conj |
| 16 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 15 asked | obj |
| 17 | whether | whether | SCONJ | _ | 20 seen | mark |
| 18 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 20 seen | nsubj |
| 19 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 20 seen | aux |
| 20 | seen | see | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 15 asked | advcl |
| 21 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 22 hare | det |
| 22 | hare | hare | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 seen | obj |
| 23 | pass | pass | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 20 seen | xcomp |
| 24 | that | that | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 25 way | det |
| 25 | way | way | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 pass | obj |
| 26 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 30 told | punct |
| 27 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 30 told | cc |
| 28 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 29 people | det |
| 29 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 30 told | nsubj |
| 30 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 rolled | conj |
| 31 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 30 told | iobj |
| 32 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 37 called | mark |
| 33 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 34 hare | det |
| 34 | hare | hare | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 called | nsubj:pass |
| 35 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 37 called | aux |
| 36 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 37 called | advmod |
| 37 | called | call | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 30 told | ccomp |
| 38 | at | at | ADP | _ | 40 farm | case |
| 39 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 40 farm | nmod:poss |
| 40 | farm | farm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 called | obl |
| 41 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 rolled | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | roll up | past | the Elephantiasis | Elephantiasis | afterwards property | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent himself=Agent | |||
| 2 | work | past · progressive | the people | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 3 | ask speech: ask | past | the Elephantiasis not said here | people | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Recipient | ||||
| 4 | see | past · perfect | people | the hare | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | pass | infinitive | the hare not said here | that way | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme way=Trajectory | ||||
| 6 | tell speech: assert | past | the people | hare | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 7 | not call | past · perfect · passive | the hare | at people's farm | vn animal_sounds-38 «NP V NP.theme PP.recipient PP.stimulus»: subject=Theme at farm=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/pg70959/19/4/