Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 4, sentence 13
Long ago, when the men, animals, and birds were living together, there was a bush buck who was fine and strong; he was also a very quick runner.
Who acts: birds, living, bush buck, man · What happens: live together, be · To what, where: bush buck, quick runner
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (birds, living, bush buck, man), 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 | Long | long | ADV | Degree=Pos | 2 ago | advmod |
| 2 | ago | ago | ADV | _ | root | root |
| 3 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 2 ago | punct |
| 4 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 2 ago | advmod |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 men | det |
| 6 | men | man | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 when | nsubj |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 8 animals | punct |
| 8 | animals | animal | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 men | conj |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 13 living | punct |
| 10 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 13 living | cc |
| 11 | birds | bird | NOUN | Number=Plur | 13 living | nsubj |
| 12 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 13 living | aux |
| 13 | living | live | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 20 buck | csubj |
| 14 | together | together | ADV | _ | 13 living | advmod |
| 15 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 17 was | punct |
| 16 | there | there | PRON | PronType=Dem | 17 was | expl |
| 17 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 20 buck | cop |
| 18 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 20 buck | det |
| 19 | bush | bush | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 20 buck | amod |
| 20 | buck | buck | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 men | nmod |
| 21 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 23 fine | nsubj |
| 22 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 23 fine | cop |
| 23 | fine | fine | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 20 buck | acl:relcl |
| 24 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 25 strong | cc |
| 25 | strong | strong | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 23 fine | conj |
| 26 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 33 runner | punct |
| 27 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 33 runner | nsubj |
| 28 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 33 runner | cop |
| 29 | also | also | ADV | _ | 33 runner | advmod |
| 30 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 33 runner | det |
| 31 | very | very | ADV | _ | 32 quick | advmod |
| 32 | quick | quick | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 33 runner | amod |
| 33 | runner | runner | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 when | nsubj |
| 34 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 ago | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | live together | past · progressive | birds | together property | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 2 | is a | past | living | a bush buck | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | is | past | a bush buck | fine property | tree rules | ||||
| 4 | be | a bush buck not said here | tree rules | ||||||
| 5 | is a | past | man | a quick runner | tree rules |
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/pg70959/21/13/