Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2, sentence 42
But the hare, seeing that trouble was likely to come, and not liking the idea of being nipped by the crab’s strong claws, with which she had just killed his enemy, took the pot off the fire and ran away with the meat.
Who acts: hare, trouble, strong claws · What happens: see, be, come, not like, nip, kill · To what, where: idea, crab, pot, fire · 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 (hare, trouble, strong claws), 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 | But | but | CCONJ | _ | 3 hare | cc |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 hare | det |
| 3 | hare | hare | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 took | nsubj |
| 4 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 5 seeing | punct |
| 5 | seeing | see | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 3 hare | acl |
| 6 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 9 likely | mark |
| 7 | trouble | trouble | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 likely | nsubj |
| 8 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 likely | cop |
| 9 | likely | likely | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 seeing | ccomp |
| 10 | to | to | PART | _ | 11 come | mark |
| 11 | come | come | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 9 likely | xcomp |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 liking | punct |
| 13 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 15 liking | cc |
| 14 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 15 liking | advmod |
| 15 | liking | like | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 5 seeing | conj |
| 16 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 17 idea | det |
| 17 | idea | idea | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 liking | obj |
| 18 | of | of | SCONJ | _ | 20 nipped | mark |
| 19 | being | be | AUX | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 20 nipped | aux:pass |
| 20 | nipped | nip | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 17 idea | acl |
| 21 | by | by | ADP | _ | 26 claws | case |
| 22 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 23 crab | det |
| 23 | crab | crab | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 claws | nmod:poss |
| 24 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 23 crab | case |
| 25 | strong | strong | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 26 claws | amod |
| 26 | claws | claw | NOUN | Number=Plur | 20 nipped | obl |
| 27 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 33 killed | punct |
| 28 | with | with | ADP | _ | 29 which | case |
| 29 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 33 killed | obl |
| 30 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 33 killed | nsubj:pass |
| 31 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 33 killed | aux |
| 32 | just | just | ADV | _ | 33 killed | advmod |
| 33 | killed | kill | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 26 claws | conj |
| 34 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 35 enemy | nmod:poss |
| 35 | enemy | enemy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 killed | obj |
| 36 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 3 hare | punct |
| 37 | took | take | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 38 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 39 pot | det |
| 39 | pot | pot | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 took | obj |
| 40 | off | off | ADP | _ | 42 fire | case |
| 41 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 42 fire | det |
| 42 | fire | fire | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 took | obl |
| 43 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 44 ran | cc |
| 44 | ran | run | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 37 took | conj |
| 45 | away | away | ADV | _ | 44 ran | advmod |
| 46 | with | with | ADP | _ | 48 meat | case |
| 47 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 48 meat | det |
| 48 | meat | meat | NOUN | Number=Sing | 44 ran | obl |
| 49 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 37 took | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | see | gerund | the hare not said here | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | |||||
| 2 | is | past | trouble | likely property | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | come | to-infinitive | trouble not said here | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 4 | not like | gerund | the hare not said here | the idea | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot idea=Theme | ||||
| 5 | nip | gerund · passive | the crab's strong claws | the idea not said here | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 6 | kill | past · perfect · passive | crab | with the crab's strong claws; hare's enemy obj | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Experiencer enemy=Result | ||||
| 7 | take | past | the hare | the pot | the fire | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial_location»: agent=Agent pot=Theme off fire=Initial_Location | |||
| 8 | run away | past | the hare not said here | with the meat; away property | vn preparing-26.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent with meat=Material |
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/pg70959/19/42/