Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 2, sentence 44
Now, all that had passed between these two people had been observed by a bird called Aictor, who was sitting in a tree and could see everything that happened.
Who acts: that, bird · What happens: pass, observe, call, sit, see, happen · To what, where: two people, bird, tree, everything · 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 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (that, bird), 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 | Now | now | ADV | PronType=Dem | 6 passed | advmod |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 Now | punct |
| 3 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 6 passed | det:predet |
| 4 | that | that | PRON | PronType=Rel | 6 passed | nsubj |
| 5 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 passed | aux |
| 6 | passed | pass | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 7 | between | between | ADP | _ | 13 observed | mark |
| 8 | these | this | DET | Number=Plur PronType=Dem | 10 people | det |
| 9 | two | two | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 10 people | nummod |
| 10 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 13 observed | nsubj:pass |
| 11 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 13 observed | aux |
| 12 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 13 observed | aux:pass |
| 13 | observed | observe | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 6 passed | advcl |
| 14 | by | by | ADP | _ | 16 bird | case |
| 15 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 16 bird | det |
| 16 | bird | bird | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 observed | obl |
| 17 | called | call | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 16 bird | acl |
| 18 | Aictor | Aictor | PROPN | Number=Sing | 17 called | xcomp |
| 19 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 22 sitting | punct |
| 20 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 22 sitting | nsubj |
| 21 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 22 sitting | aux |
| 22 | sitting | sit | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 16 bird | acl |
| 23 | in | in | ADP | _ | 25 tree | case |
| 24 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 25 tree | det |
| 25 | tree | tree | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 sitting | obl |
| 26 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 28 see | cc |
| 27 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 28 see | aux |
| 28 | see | see | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 6 passed | conj |
| 29 | everything | everything | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Tot | 28 see | obj |
| 30 | that | that | PRON | PronType=Rel | 31 happened | nsubj |
| 31 | happened | happen | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 29 everything | acl:relcl |
| 32 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 6 passed | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | pass | past · perfect | that | now | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 2 | observe | past · perfect · passive | a bird | this two people | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent subject=Topic | ||||
| 3 | call | participle | a bird not said here | Aictor xcomp | vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 4 | sit | past · progressive | a bird | a tree | vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in tree=Location | ||||
| 5 | see | could | that not said here | everything | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer everything=Stimulus | ||||
| 6 | happen | past | vn occur-48.3-1 «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/pg70959/25/44/