Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 2, sentence 5
The other pythons who were working on the farm, missing their companion very soon, went to see what had become of him, and found his dead body with the head and tail missing, near the food.
Who acts: other pythons · What happens: work, miss, go, see, become, find · To what, where: companion, dead body, food · 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 (other pythons), 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 pythons | det |
| 2 | other | other | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 pythons | amod |
| 3 | pythons | python | NOUN | Number=Plur | 17 went | nsubj |
| 4 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 6 working | nsubj |
| 5 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 working | aux |
| 6 | working | work | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 3 pythons | acl:relcl |
| 7 | on | on | ADP | _ | 9 farm | case |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 farm | det |
| 9 | farm | farm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 working | obl |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 11 missing | punct |
| 11 | missing | miss | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 6 working | conj |
| 12 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 13 companion | nmod:poss |
| 13 | companion | companion | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 missing | obj |
| 14 | very | very | ADV | _ | 15 soon | advmod |
| 15 | soon | soon | ADV | Degree=Pos | 11 missing | advmod |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 3 pythons | punct |
| 17 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 18 | to | to | PART | _ | 19 see | mark |
| 19 | see | see | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 17 went | xcomp |
| 20 | what | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 22 become | nsubj |
| 21 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 22 become | aux |
| 22 | become | become | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 19 see | ccomp |
| 23 | of | of | ADP | _ | 24 him | case |
| 24 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 22 become | obl |
| 25 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 27 found | punct |
| 26 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 27 found | cc |
| 27 | found | find | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 17 went | conj |
| 28 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 30 body | nmod:poss |
| 29 | dead | dead | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 30 body | amod |
| 30 | body | body | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 found | obj |
| 31 | with | with | ADP | _ | 33 head | case |
| 32 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 33 head | det |
| 33 | head | head | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 found | obl |
| 34 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 35 tail | cc |
| 35 | tail | tail | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 head | conj |
| 36 | missing | missing | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 33 head | amod |
| 37 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 40 food | punct |
| 38 | near | near | ADP | _ | 40 food | case |
| 39 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 40 food | det |
| 40 | food | food | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 found | obl |
| 41 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 17 went | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | work | past · progressive | the other pythons | on the farm | vn employment-95.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent on farm=Theme | ||||
| 2 | miss | gerund | the other pythons not said here | men's companion | soon property | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer companion=Stimulus | |||
| 3 | go | past | the other pythons | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 4 | see | to-infinitive | the other pythons not said here | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | |||||
| 5 | become | past · perfect | of husband; what nsubj | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient | |||||
| 6 | find | past | the other pythons not said here | husband's dead body | the food | with the head and tail | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent body=Topic |
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/pg70959/25/5/