Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxix.--why a Python Never Swallows a Tortoise., sentence 27
After this the tortoise went from one animal to another, and many of them were swallowed by the python, but the tortoise always escaped.
Who acts: python, tortoise · What happens: go, swallow, escape · To what, where: many
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 | After | after | ADP | _ | 4 tortoise | case |
| 2 | this | this | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 4 tortoise | det |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 tortoise | det |
| 4 | tortoise | tortoise | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 went | obl |
| 5 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | from | from | ADP | _ | 8 animal | case |
| 7 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 8 animal | nummod |
| 8 | animal | animal | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 went | obl |
| 9 | to | to | ADP | _ | 10 another | case |
| 10 | another | another | DET | PronType=Ind | 8 animal | nmod |
| 11 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 17 swallowed | punct |
| 12 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 17 swallowed | cc |
| 13 | many | many | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 17 swallowed | nsubj |
| 14 | of | of | ADP | _ | 15 them | case |
| 15 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 13 many | nmod |
| 16 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 17 swallowed | aux:pass |
| 17 | swallowed | swallow | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 5 went | conj |
| 18 | by | by | ADP | _ | 20 python | case |
| 19 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 python | det |
| 20 | python | python | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 swallowed | obl |
| 21 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 26 escaped | punct |
| 22 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 26 escaped | cc |
| 23 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 24 tortoise | det |
| 24 | tortoise | tortoise | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 escaped | nsubj |
| 25 | always | always | ADV | PronType=Tot | 26 escaped | advmod |
| 26 | escaped | escape | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 went | conj |
| 27 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 went | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | go | past | after this tortoise | from one animal to another | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme from animal=Initial_Location | ||||
| 2 | swallow | past · passive | the python | many of animals | vn gobble-39.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient | ||||
| 3 | escape | past | the tortoise | always property | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
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/pg70959/22/27/