Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxix.--why a Python Never Swallows a Tortoise., sentence 1
In the days when the elephant was king over all the beasts of the forest, it was the custom for all the animals to go once a year and make the elephant’s farm for him.
Who acts: elephant, animals · What happens: be, go, make · To what, where: king, beasts, custom, farm
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxix.--why a Python Never Swallows a Tortoise.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (elephant, animals), 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 | In | in | ADP | _ | 3 days | case |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 days | det |
| 3 | days | day | NOUN | Number=Plur | 8 king | obl |
| 4 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 8 king | advmod |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 elephant | det |
| 6 | elephant | elephant | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 king | nsubj |
| 7 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 king | cop |
| 8 | king | king | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 9 | over | over | ADP | _ | 12 beasts | case |
| 10 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 12 beasts | det:predet |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 beasts | det |
| 12 | beasts | beast | NOUN | Number=Plur | 8 king | nmod |
| 13 | of | of | ADP | _ | 15 forest | case |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 15 forest | det |
| 15 | forest | forest | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 beasts | nmod |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 custom | punct |
| 17 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 20 custom | nsubj |
| 18 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 20 custom | cop |
| 19 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 custom | det |
| 20 | custom | custom | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 king | parataxis |
| 21 | for | for | SCONJ | _ | 26 go | mark |
| 22 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 24 animals | det:predet |
| 23 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 24 animals | det |
| 24 | animals | animal | NOUN | Number=Plur | 26 go | nsubj |
| 25 | to | to | PART | _ | 26 go | mark |
| 26 | go | go | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 20 custom | acl |
| 27 | once | once | ADV | NumForm=Word NumType=Mult | 26 go | advmod |
| 28 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 29 year | det |
| 29 | year | year | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 once | obl:unmarked |
| 30 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 31 make | cc |
| 31 | make | make | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 26 go | conj |
| 32 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 33 elephant | det |
| 33 | elephant | elephant | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 farm | nmod:poss |
| 34 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 33 elephant | case |
| 35 | farm | farm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 make | obj |
| 36 | for | for | ADP | _ | 37 him | case |
| 37 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 35 farm | nmod |
| 38 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 8 king | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | past | the elephant | king | all beasts of the forest | day | tree rules | ||
| 2 | is a | past | elephant | the custom | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | go | to-infinitive | all animals | once property | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 4 | make | present | all animals not said here | the elephant's farm | for king | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent farm=Product for he=Beneficiary |
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/pg70959/22/1/