Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 4, sentence 45
When the bush buck arrived he was much out of breath from running, and was greatly surprised at being beaten by the frog, but as he had passed his word that he would give his daughter to the winner, he handed her to the frog.
Who acts: bush buck, FROG · What happens: arrive, be, run, beat, pass, give · To what, where: breath, word, daughter, winner, BUCK
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 (bush buck, FROG), 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 | When | when | SCONJ | _ | 5 arrived | mark |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 buck | det |
| 3 | bush | bush | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 buck | compound |
| 4 | buck | buck | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 arrived | nsubj |
| 5 | arrived | arrive | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 44 handed | advcl |
| 6 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 11 breath | nsubj |
| 7 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 11 breath | cop |
| 8 | much | much | ADV | _ | 11 breath | advmod |
| 9 | out | out | ADP | _ | 11 breath | case |
| 10 | of | of | ADP | _ | 11 breath | case |
| 11 | breath | breath | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 arrived | conj |
| 12 | from | from | SCONJ | _ | 13 running | mark |
| 13 | running | run | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 11 breath | advcl |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 18 surprised | punct |
| 15 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 18 surprised | cc |
| 16 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 18 surprised | cop |
| 17 | greatly | greatly | ADV | _ | 18 surprised | advmod |
| 18 | surprised | surprised | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 arrived | conj |
| 19 | at | at | SCONJ | _ | 21 beaten | mark |
| 20 | being | be | AUX | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 21 beaten | aux:pass |
| 21 | beaten | beat | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 18 surprised | xcomp |
| 22 | by | by | ADP | _ | 24 frog | case |
| 23 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 24 frog | det |
| 24 | frog | frog | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 beaten | obl |
| 25 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 30 passed | punct |
| 26 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 30 passed | cc |
| 27 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 30 passed | mark |
| 28 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 30 passed | nsubj |
| 29 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 30 passed | aux |
| 30 | passed | pass | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 5 arrived | conj |
| 31 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 32 word | nmod:poss |
| 32 | word | word | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 passed | obj |
| 33 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 36 give | mark |
| 34 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 36 give | nsubj |
| 35 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 36 give | aux |
| 36 | give | give | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 30 passed | advcl |
| 37 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 38 daughter | nmod:poss |
| 38 | daughter | daughter | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 give | obj |
| 39 | to | to | ADP | _ | 41 winner | case |
| 40 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 41 winner | det |
| 41 | winner | winner | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 give | obl |
| 42 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 5 arrived | punct |
| 43 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 44 handed | nsubj |
| 44 | handed | hand | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 45 | her | she | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 44 handed | iobj |
| 46 | to | to | ADP | _ | 48 frog | case |
| 47 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 48 frog | det |
| 48 | frog | frog | NOUN | Number=Sing | 44 handed | obl |
| 49 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 44 handed | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | arrive | past | the bush buck | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 2 | is | past | FROG | breath | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | run | gerund | FROG not said here | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 4 | is | past | the bush buck not said here | greatly, surprised property | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | beat | gerund · passive | the frog | vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location | |||||
| 6 | pass | past · perfect | FROG | FROG's word | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme word=Trajectory | ||||
| 7 | give | would | FROG | FROG's daughter | the winner | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent daughter=Theme to winner=Recipient | |||
| 8 | hand | past | FROG | BUCK | to the frog | vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent she=Theme to frog=Destination | |||
| 9 | word | FROG | nom word «communication transitive»: poss=agent |
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/pg70959/21/45/