Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 4, sentence 51
One day when she went to the spring to draw water the frog called out to her to return to him, but, as she refused to do so, the frog lost his wife for ever whom he had won so cleverly.
Who acts: WIFE, frog · What happens: go, draw, call out, return, refuse, not do · To what, where: water, frog, 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 (WIFE, 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 | One | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 2 day | nummod |
| 2 | day | day | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 went | obl:unmarked |
| 3 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 5 went | advmod |
| 4 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 went | nsubj |
| 5 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | to | to | ADP | _ | 8 spring | case |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 spring | det |
| 8 | spring | spring | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 went | obl |
| 9 | to | to | PART | _ | 10 draw | mark |
| 10 | draw | draw | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | 5 went | advcl |
| 11 | water | water | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 draw | obj |
| 12 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 13 frog | det |
| 13 | frog | frog | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 draw | obj |
| 14 | called | call | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 13 frog | acl |
| 15 | out | out | ADP | _ | 14 called | compound:prt |
| 16 | to | to | ADP | _ | 17 her | case |
| 17 | her | she | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 14 called | obl |
| 18 | to | to | PART | _ | 19 return | mark |
| 19 | return | return | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 14 called | advcl |
| 20 | to | to | ADP | _ | 21 him | case |
| 21 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 19 return | obl |
| 22 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 34 lost | punct |
| 23 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 34 lost | cc |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 23 but | punct |
| 25 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 27 refused | mark |
| 26 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 27 refused | nsubj |
| 27 | refused | refuse | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 34 lost | advcl |
| 28 | to | to | PART | _ | 29 do | mark |
| 29 | do | do | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 27 refused | xcomp |
| 30 | so | so | ADV | _ | 29 do | advmod |
| 31 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 27 refused | punct |
| 32 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 33 frog | det |
| 33 | frog | frog | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 lost | nsubj |
| 34 | lost | lose | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 went | conj |
| 35 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 36 wife | nmod:poss |
| 36 | wife | wife | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 lost | obj |
| 37 | for | for | ADP | _ | 39 whom | case |
| 38 | ever | ever | ADV | PronType=Ind | 39 whom | advmod |
| 39 | whom | whom | PRON | PronType=Rel | 34 lost | obl |
| 40 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 42 won | nsubj |
| 41 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 42 won | aux |
| 42 | won | win | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 39 whom | acl:relcl |
| 43 | so | so | ADV | _ | 44 cleverly | advmod |
| 44 | cleverly | cleverly | ADV | _ | 42 won | advmod |
| 45 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 went | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | go | past | WIFE | day; spring | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 2 | draw | to-infinitive | WIFE not said here | water | the frog obj | vn create-26.4-1-1 «NP V NP.beneficiary NP»: agent=Agent water=Beneficiary frog=Result | |||
| 3 | call out speech: assert | participle | the frog not said here | WIFE | vn animal_sounds-38 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to she=Recipient | ||||
| 4 | return | to-infinitive | FROG | vn convert-26.6.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Patient to he=Result | |||||
| 5 | refuse | past | WIFE | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | |||||
| 6 | not do | to-infinitive | WIFE not said here | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 7 | lose | past | the frog | FROG's wife | whom obl | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wife=Eventuality | |||
| 8 | win | past · perfect | FROG | cleverly property | vn succeed-74-2 «NP V»: 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/pg70959/21/51/