Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2, sentence 9
Now all this time the hare had been listening, and when he saw the Elephantiasis coming towards him he jumped out of the heap and ran away as fast as he could go.
Who acts: hare, Elephantiasis · What happens: listen, see, come, jump out, run away, go · To what, where: heap
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, 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 | Now | now | ADV | PronType=Dem | 9 listening | advmod |
| 2 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 4 time | det:predet |
| 3 | this | this | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 4 time | det |
| 4 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 listening | obl:unmarked |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 hare | det |
| 6 | hare | hare | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 listening | nsubj |
| 7 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 listening | aux |
| 8 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 9 listening | aux |
| 9 | listening | listen | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 14 saw | punct |
| 11 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 14 saw | cc |
| 12 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 14 saw | advmod |
| 13 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 14 saw | nsubj |
| 14 | saw | see | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 listening | conj |
| 15 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 16 Elephantiasis | det |
| 16 | Elephantiasis | elephantiasis | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 jumped | nsubj |
| 17 | coming | come | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 16 Elephantiasis | acl |
| 18 | towards | towards | ADP | _ | 19 him | case |
| 19 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 17 coming | obl |
| 20 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 21 jumped | nsubj |
| 21 | jumped | jump | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 14 saw | parataxis |
| 22 | out | out | ADP | _ | 25 heap | case |
| 23 | of | of | ADP | _ | 25 heap | case |
| 24 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 25 heap | det |
| 25 | heap | heap | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 jumped | obl |
| 26 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 27 ran | cc |
| 27 | ran | run | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 21 jumped | conj |
| 28 | away | away | ADV | _ | 27 ran | advmod |
| 29 | as | as | ADV | _ | 30 fast | advmod |
| 30 | fast | fast | ADV | Degree=Pos | 27 ran | advmod |
| 31 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 34 go | mark |
| 32 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 34 go | nsubj |
| 33 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 34 go | aux |
| 34 | go | go | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 30 fast | advcl |
| 35 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 9 listening | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | listen | past · perfect · progressive | the hare | now; time | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 2 | see | past | hare | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | |||||
| 3 | come | gerund | the Elephantiasis not said here | towards hare | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme towards he=Initial_Location | ||||
| 4 | jump out | past | the Elephantiasis | the heap | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme heap=Trajectory | ||||
| 5 | run away | past | the Elephantiasis not said here | away, fast property | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 6 | go | could | Elephantiasis | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=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/pg70959/19/9/