Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2, sentence 8
At this the people were frightened, as they knew the disease well, and did not wish to have it with them always, so they pointed out the heap of rubbish where the hare was hiding, and the Elephantiasis rolled off towards it.
Who acts: people, hare, Elephantiasis · What happens: frighten, know, not wish, have, point out, hide · To what, where: people, disease, heap, rubbish
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 (people, hare, Elephantiasis), 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 | At | at | ADP | _ | 2 this | case |
| 2 | this | this | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 4 people | obl |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 people | det |
| 4 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 frightened | nsubj:pass |
| 5 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 frightened | aux:pass |
| 6 | frightened | frighten | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 10 knew | punct |
| 8 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 10 knew | mark |
| 9 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 10 knew | nsubj |
| 10 | knew | know | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 frightened | parataxis |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 disease | det |
| 12 | disease | disease | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 knew | obj |
| 13 | well | well | ADV | Degree=Pos | 10 knew | advmod |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 18 wish | punct |
| 15 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 18 wish | cc |
| 16 | did | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 18 wish | aux |
| 17 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 18 wish | advmod |
| 18 | wish | wish | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 10 knew | conj |
| 19 | to | to | PART | _ | 20 have | mark |
| 20 | have | have | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 18 wish | xcomp |
| 21 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 20 have | obj |
| 22 | with | with | ADP | _ | 23 them | case |
| 23 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 20 have | obl |
| 24 | always | always | ADV | PronType=Tot | 20 have | advmod |
| 25 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 28 pointed | punct |
| 26 | so | so | ADV | _ | 28 pointed | advmod |
| 27 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 28 pointed | nsubj |
| 28 | pointed | point | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 frightened | conj |
| 29 | out | out | ADP | _ | 28 pointed | compound:prt |
| 30 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 31 heap | det |
| 31 | heap | heap | NOUN | Number=Sing | 28 pointed | obj |
| 32 | of | of | ADP | _ | 33 rubbish | case |
| 33 | rubbish | rubbish | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 heap | nmod |
| 34 | where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 38 hiding | advmod |
| 35 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 36 hare | det |
| 36 | hare | hare | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 hiding | nsubj |
| 37 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 38 hiding | aux |
| 38 | hiding | hide | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 33 rubbish | acl:relcl |
| 39 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 43 rolled | punct |
| 40 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 43 rolled | cc |
| 41 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 42 Elephantiasis | det |
| 42 | Elephantiasis | Elephantiasis | PROPN | Number=Sing | 43 rolled | nsubj |
| 43 | rolled | roll | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 frightened | conj |
| 44 | off | off | ADP | _ | 43 rolled | compound:prt |
| 45 | towards | towards | ADP | _ | 46 it | case |
| 46 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 43 rolled | obl |
| 47 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 6 frightened | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | frighten | past · passive | the people at this | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer | |||||
| 2 | know | past | people | the disease | well property | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer disease=Stimulus | |||
| 3 | not wish | past · do-support | people not said here | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | |||||
| 4 | have not said to happen | to-infinitive | people not said here | disease | with people; always property | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient | |||
| 5 | point out | past | people | the heap of rubbish | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent heap=Patient | ||||
| 6 | hide | past · progressive | the hare | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 7 | roll off | past | the Elephantiasis | rubbish | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme towards it=Destination |
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/pg70959/19/8/