Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxix.--why a Python Never Swallows a Tortoise., sentence 7
When the next season arrived and it was time for the farms to be made, all the people went as usual to make the elephant’s farm and plant his yams, &c., but as the elephant had had such a very bad crop the previous year, he told the people he was very sorry, but that he was unable to supply them with food that year as he had no yams or plantains to give them.
Who acts: next season, food, people, python · What happens: arrive, be, make, go, plant, have · To what, where: time, c., farm, yams, bad crop, people · Speech: someone speaks here
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 (next season, food, people, python), 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 | When | when | SCONJ | _ | 5 arrived | mark |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 season | det |
| 3 | next | next | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 season | amod |
| 4 | season | season | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 arrived | nsubj |
| 5 | arrived | arrive | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 20 went | advcl |
| 6 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 9 time | cc |
| 7 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 9 time | nsubj |
| 8 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 time | cop |
| 9 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 arrived | conj |
| 10 | for | for | ADP | _ | 12 farms | case |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 farms | det |
| 12 | farms | farm | NOUN | Number=Plur | 9 time | nmod |
| 13 | to | to | PART | _ | 15 made | mark |
| 14 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 15 made | aux:pass |
| 15 | made | make | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 9 time | advcl |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 5 arrived | punct |
| 17 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 19 people | det:predet |
| 18 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 19 people | det |
| 19 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 20 went | nsubj |
| 20 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 21 | as | as | ADP | _ | 22 usual | case |
| 22 | usual | usual | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 20 went | obl |
| 23 | to | to | PART | _ | 24 make | mark |
| 24 | make | make | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 20 went | advcl |
| 25 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 26 elephant | det |
| 26 | elephant | elephant | NOUN | Number=Sing | 28 farm | nmod:poss |
| 27 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 26 elephant | case |
| 28 | farm | farm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 make | obj |
| 29 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 30 plant | cc |
| 30 | plant | plant | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 24 make | conj |
| 31 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 32 yams | nmod:poss |
| 32 | yams | yam | NOUN | Number=Plur | 30 plant | obj |
| 33 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 35 c. | punct |
| 34 | & | & | CCONJ | _ | 35 c. | cc |
| 35 | c. | c. | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 went | obl |
| 36 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 42 had | punct |
| 37 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 42 had | cc |
| 38 | as | as | ADP | _ | 40 elephant | case |
| 39 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 40 elephant | det |
| 40 | elephant | elephant | NOUN | Number=Sing | 42 had | obl |
| 41 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 42 had | aux |
| 42 | had | have | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 20 went | parataxis |
| 43 | such | such | DET | PronType=Ind | 47 crop | det:predet |
| 44 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 47 crop | det |
| 45 | very | very | ADV | _ | 46 bad | advmod |
| 46 | bad | bad | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 47 crop | amod |
| 47 | crop | crop | NOUN | Number=Sing | 42 had | obj |
| 48 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 50 year | det |
| 49 | previous | previous | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 50 year | amod |
| 50 | year | year | NOUN | Number=Sing | 42 had | obl:unmarked |
| 51 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 53 told | punct |
| 52 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 53 told | nsubj |
| 53 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 20 went | conj |
| 54 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 55 people | det |
| 55 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 53 told | iobj |
| 56 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 59 sorry | nsubj |
| 57 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 59 sorry | cop |
| 58 | very | very | ADV | _ | 59 sorry | advmod |
| 59 | sorry | sorry | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 53 told | ccomp |
| 60 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 65 unable | punct |
| 61 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 65 unable | cc |
| 62 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 65 unable | mark |
| 63 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 65 unable | nsubj |
| 64 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 65 unable | cop |
| 65 | unable | unable | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 59 sorry | conj |
| 66 | to | to | PART | _ | 67 supply | mark |
| 67 | supply | supply | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 65 unable | xcomp |
| 68 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 67 supply | obj |
| 69 | with | with | ADP | _ | 70 food | case |
| 70 | food | food | NOUN | Number=Sing | 67 supply | obl |
| 71 | that | that | PRON | PronType=Rel | 72 year | det |
| 72 | year | year | NOUN | Number=Sing | 70 food | nmod:unmarked |
| 73 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 75 had | mark |
| 74 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 75 had | nsubj |
| 75 | had | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 67 supply | advcl |
| 76 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 77 yams | det |
| 77 | yams | yam | NOUN | Number=Plur | 75 had | obj |
| 78 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 79 plantains | cc |
| 79 | plantains | plantain | NOUN | Number=Plur | 77 yams | conj |
| 80 | to | to | PART | _ | 81 give | mark |
| 81 | give | give | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 75 had | conj |
| 82 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 81 give | iobj |
| 83 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 20 went | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | arrive | past | the next season | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 2 | is a | past | food | time | for the farms | tree rules | |||
| 3 | make | to-infinitive · passive | food not said here | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP» | |||||
| 4 | go | past | all people | c. | as usual | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||
| 5 | make | to-infinitive | all people not said here | the elephant's farm | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset farm=Product | ||||
| 6 | plant | infinitive | all people not said here | python's yams | vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent yam=Patient | ||||
| 7 | have | past · perfect | such bad crop | year | as the elephant | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent crop=Patient | |||
| 8 | tell speech: assert | past | python | the people | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent people=Recipient | ||||
| 9 | is | past | python | sorry property | tree rules | ||||
| 10 | is | past | python | unable property | tree rules | ||||
| 11 | supply | to-infinitive | python not said here | people | with food that year | vn fulfilling-13.4.1-1 «NP V NP-Fulfilling PP.theme»: agent=Agent they=Recipient with food=Theme | |||
| 12 | have | past | python | no yams or plantains | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent yam=Patient | ||||
| 13 | give | to-infinitive | python not said here | people | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=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/pg70959/22/7/