Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxix.--why a Python Never Swallows a Tortoise., sentence 9
When the python heard this he said, “Now the time is come when I can revenge myself upon the tortoise and the other people who would not let me eat the king’s food last year.”
Who acts: python, other people · What happens: hear, say, come, revenge, not let, eat · To what, where: this, time, python, food · 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 (python, other people), 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 | ADV | PronType=Int | 4 heard | advmod |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 python | det |
| 3 | python | python | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 heard | nsubj |
| 4 | heard | hear | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 said | advcl |
| 5 | this | this | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 4 heard | obj |
| 6 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 7 said | nsubj |
| 7 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 14 come | punct |
| 9 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 14 come | punct |
| 10 | Now | now | ADV | PronType=Dem | 14 come | advmod |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 time | det |
| 12 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 come | nsubj |
| 13 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 14 come | aux:pass |
| 14 | come | come | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 7 said | ccomp |
| 15 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 18 revenge | advmod |
| 16 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 18 revenge | nsubj |
| 17 | can | can | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 18 revenge | aux |
| 18 | revenge | revenge | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 come | obl |
| 19 | myself | myself | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Emp Reflex=Yes | 14 come | obl:unmarked |
| 20 | upon | upon | ADP | _ | 22 tortoise | case |
| 21 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 22 tortoise | det |
| 22 | tortoise | tortoise | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 come | obl |
| 23 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 26 people | cc |
| 24 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 26 people | det |
| 25 | other | other | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 26 people | amod |
| 26 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 22 tortoise | conj |
| 27 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 30 let | nsubj |
| 28 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 30 let | aux |
| 29 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 30 let | advmod |
| 30 | let | let | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 26 people | acl:relcl |
| 31 | me | I | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 30 let | obj |
| 32 | eat | eat | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 30 let | xcomp |
| 33 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 34 king | det |
| 34 | king | king | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 food | nmod:poss |
| 35 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 34 king | case |
| 36 | food | food | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 eat | obj |
| 37 | last | last | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 38 year | amod |
| 38 | year | year | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 eat | obl:unmarked |
| 39 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 7 said | punct |
| 40 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 7 said | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | hear | past | the python | this | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer this=Stimulus | ||||
| 2 | say speech: assert | past | python | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 3 | come in a quote | present · passive | the time | now | upon the tortoise and the other people; myself obl:unmarked | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme | |||
| 4 | revenge in a quote | can | python | tree rules | |||||
| 5 | not let in a quote | would | the other people | python | tree rules | ||||
| 6 | eat in a quote | infinitive | python not said here | the king's food | year | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent food=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/pg70959/22/9/