Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 1, sentence 17
The more Chief Kaku thought of the plan, the easier it seemed; so he sent for all his young men, and took a head from one, arms from another, legs from a third, and fine white teeth from a fourth, and so on, until at last the python was complete.
Who acts: Chief, it, python · What happens: think, seem, send, take, be · To what, where: head, another · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Chief, it, 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 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 Chief | det |
| 2 | more | more | ADV | Degree=Cmp | 3 Chief | advmod |
| 3 | Chief | Chief | PROPN | Number=Sing | 5 thought | nsubj |
| 4 | Kaku | Kaku | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 Chief | flat |
| 5 | thought | think | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | of | of | ADP | _ | 8 plan | case |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 plan | det |
| 8 | plan | plan | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 thought | obl |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 11 easier | punct |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 easier | det |
| 11 | easier | easy | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 8 plan | acl |
| 12 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 13 seemed | nsubj |
| 13 | seemed | seem | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 11 easier | ccomp |
| 14 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 17 sent | punct |
| 15 | so | so | ADV | _ | 17 sent | advmod |
| 16 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 17 sent | nsubj |
| 17 | sent | send | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 thought | conj |
| 18 | for | for | ADP | _ | 22 men | case |
| 19 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 22 men | det:predet |
| 20 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 22 men | nmod:poss |
| 21 | young | young | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 22 men | amod |
| 22 | men | man | NOUN | Number=Plur | 17 sent | obl |
| 23 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 25 took | punct |
| 24 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 25 took | cc |
| 25 | took | take | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 thought | parataxis |
| 26 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 27 head | det |
| 27 | head | head | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 took | obj |
| 28 | from | from | ADP | _ | 29 one | case |
| 29 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 25 took | obl |
| 30 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 31 arms | punct |
| 31 | arms | arm | NOUN | Number=Plur | 25 took | obl |
| 32 | from | from | ADP | _ | 33 another | case |
| 33 | another | another | DET | PronType=Ind | 25 took | obl |
| 34 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 35 legs | punct |
| 35 | legs | leg | NOUN | Number=Plur | 25 took | obl |
| 36 | from | from | ADP | _ | 38 third | case |
| 37 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 38 third | det |
| 38 | third | third | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 took | obl |
| 39 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 43 teeth | punct |
| 40 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 43 teeth | cc |
| 41 | fine | fine | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 43 teeth | amod |
| 42 | white | white | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 43 teeth | amod |
| 43 | teeth | tooth | NOUN | Number=Plur | 25 took | obl |
| 44 | from | from | ADP | _ | 46 fourth | case |
| 45 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 46 fourth | det |
| 46 | fourth | fourth | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 took | obl |
| 47 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 50 on | punct |
| 48 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 50 on | cc |
| 49 | so | so | ADV | _ | 50 on | advmod |
| 50 | on | on | ADV | _ | 25 took | advmod |
| 51 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 54 last | punct |
| 52 | until | until | ADP | _ | 54 last | case |
| 53 | at | at | ADP | _ | 54 last | case |
| 54 | last | last | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 25 took | conj |
| 55 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 56 python | det |
| 56 | python | python | NOUN | Number=Sing | 58 complete | nsubj |
| 57 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 58 complete | cop |
| 58 | complete | complete | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 54 last | acl:relcl |
| 59 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 thought | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | think speech: other | past | the Chief | of the plan | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 2 | seem | past | it | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 3 | send | past | Chief | for Chief's young men | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 4 | take | past | a head | another | from one; from a third; from a fourth; arms obl; legs obl; fine white teeth obl | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial_location»: agent=Agent head=Theme from one=Initial_Location | |||
| 5 | is | past | the python | complete property | tree rules |
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/pg70959/24/17/