Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxix.--why a Python Never Swallows a Tortoise., sentence 23
The python agreed to this arrangement and allowed the tortoise to eat the palm nuts.
Who acts: python, tortoise · What happens: agree, allow, eat · To what, where: tortoise, palm nuts
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 (python, tortoise), 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 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 python | det |
| 2 | python | python | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 agreed | nsubj |
| 3 | agreed | agree | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | to | to | ADP | _ | 6 arrangement | case |
| 5 | this | this | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 6 arrangement | det |
| 6 | arrangement | arrangement | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 agreed | obl |
| 7 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 8 allowed | cc |
| 8 | allowed | allow | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 agreed | conj |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 tortoise | det |
| 10 | tortoise | tortoise | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 allowed | obj |
| 11 | to | to | PART | _ | 12 eat | mark |
| 12 | eat | eat | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 8 allowed | xcomp |
| 13 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 15 nuts | det |
| 14 | palm | palm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 nuts | compound |
| 15 | nuts | nut | NOUN | Number=Plur | 12 eat | obj |
| 16 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 agreed | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | agree speech: agree | past | the python | to this arrangement | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 2 | allow | past | the python not said here | the tortoise | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP S»: agent=Causer tortoise=Beneficiary clause=Eventuality | ||||
| 3 | eat not said to happen | to-infinitive | the tortoise not said here | the palm nuts | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nut=Patient |
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/pg70959/22/23/