Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2, sentence 61
Directly she was out of sight the hare ran through the bush as fast as he could to the house his wife was bound for, and as she was carrying a heavy load he got there some little time before her.
Who acts: wife, hare · What happens: be, run, bind, carry, get · To what, where: sight, bush, wife, heavy load
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 (wife, 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 | Directly | directly | ADV | _ | 6 sight | advmod |
| 2 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 6 sight | nsubj |
| 3 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 sight | cop |
| 4 | out | out | ADP | _ | 6 sight | case |
| 5 | of | of | ADP | _ | 6 sight | case |
| 6 | sight | sight | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 ran | obl |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 hare | det |
| 8 | hare | hare | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 ran | nsubj |
| 9 | ran | run | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 10 | through | through | ADP | _ | 12 bush | case |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 bush | det |
| 12 | bush | bush | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 ran | obl |
| 13 | as | as | ADV | _ | 14 fast | advmod |
| 14 | fast | fast | ADV | Degree=Pos | 24 bound | advmod |
| 15 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 17 could | mark |
| 16 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 17 could | nsubj |
| 17 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 24 bound | aux |
| 18 | to | to | ADP | _ | 20 house | case |
| 19 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 house | det |
| 20 | house | house | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 could | obl |
| 21 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 22 wife | nmod:poss |
| 22 | wife | wife | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 bound | nsubj |
| 23 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 24 bound | aux:pass |
| 24 | bound | bind | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 9 ran | advcl |
| 25 | for | for | ADP | _ | 24 bound | obl |
| 26 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 31 carrying | punct |
| 27 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 31 carrying | cc |
| 28 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 31 carrying | mark |
| 29 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 31 carrying | nsubj |
| 30 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 31 carrying | aux |
| 31 | carrying | carry | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 9 ran | advcl |
| 32 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 34 load | det |
| 33 | heavy | heavy | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 34 load | amod |
| 34 | load | load | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 carrying | obj |
| 35 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 36 got | nsubj |
| 36 | got | get | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 31 carrying | ccomp |
| 37 | there | there | ADV | PronType=Dem | 36 got | advmod |
| 38 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 40 time | det |
| 39 | little | little | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 40 time | amod |
| 40 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 carrying | obl:unmarked |
| 41 | before | before | ADP | _ | 42 her | case |
| 42 | her | she | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 31 carrying | obl |
| 43 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 9 ran | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | wife | sight | directly property | tree rules | |||
| 2 | run | past | the hare | the bush | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme through bush=Trajectory | ||||
| 3 | bind | could · passive | hare's wife | fast property | vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient | ||||
| 4 | carry | past · progressive | wife | a heavy load | before path; time | tree rules | |||
| 5 | get | past | hare | there | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
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/pg70959/19/61/