Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 4, sentence 49
So the frog came out and joined his wife, but he only lived with her for a very short time, as the pretty bush buck walked so fast he could not keep up with her.
Who acts: frog, pretty bush buck · What happens: come out, join, live, walk, not keep up · To what, where: wife
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 (frog, pretty bush buck), 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 | So | so | ADV | _ | 4 came | advmod |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 frog | det |
| 3 | frog | frog | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 came | nsubj |
| 4 | came | come | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | out | out | ADV | _ | 4 came | advmod |
| 6 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 7 joined | cc |
| 7 | joined | join | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 came | conj |
| 8 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 9 wife | nmod:poss |
| 9 | wife | wife | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 joined | obj |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 14 lived | punct |
| 11 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 14 lived | cc |
| 12 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 14 lived | nsubj |
| 13 | only | only | ADV | _ | 14 lived | advmod |
| 14 | lived | live | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 came | conj |
| 15 | with | with | ADP | _ | 16 her | case |
| 16 | her | she | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 14 lived | obl |
| 17 | for | for | ADP | _ | 21 time | case |
| 18 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 21 time | det |
| 19 | very | very | ADV | _ | 20 short | advmod |
| 20 | short | short | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 21 time | amod |
| 21 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 lived | obl |
| 22 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 28 walked | punct |
| 23 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 28 walked | mark |
| 24 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 27 buck | det |
| 25 | pretty | pretty | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 27 buck | amod |
| 26 | bush | bush | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 buck | compound |
| 27 | buck | buck | NOUN | Number=Sing | 28 walked | nsubj |
| 28 | walked | walk | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 14 lived | conj |
| 29 | so | so | ADV | _ | 30 fast | advmod |
| 30 | fast | fast | ADV | Degree=Pos | 28 walked | advmod |
| 31 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 34 keep | nsubj |
| 32 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 34 keep | aux |
| 33 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 34 keep | advmod |
| 34 | keep | keep | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 28 walked | advcl |
| 35 | up | up | ADP | _ | 34 keep | compound:prt |
| 36 | with | with | ADP | _ | 37 her | case |
| 37 | her | she | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 34 keep | obl |
| 38 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 came | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | come out | past | the frog | out property | vn become-109.1 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Patient | ||||
| 2 | join | past | the frog not said here | FROG's wife | vn mix-22.1-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wife=Patient | ||||
| 3 | live | past | FROG | time | with WIFE | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme with she=Location | |||
| 4 | walk | past | the pretty bush buck | fast property | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 5 | not keep up | could | FROG | with WIFE | vn sustain-55.6 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=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/pg70959/21/49/