Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 2, sentence 78
They then started off again, and walked as far as the third water, called “Ofat elikatt,” (“the slippery water”; so called because the stream runs so fast over the stepping-stones that it causes a person’s foot to slip).
Who acts: women, third water, stream, water · What happens: start off, walk, call, run, step, cause · To what, where: Ofat elikatt, foot · 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 (women, third water, stream, water), 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 | They | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 started | nsubj |
| 2 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 3 started | advmod |
| 3 | started | start | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | off | off | ADP | _ | 3 started | compound:prt |
| 5 | again | again | ADV | _ | 3 started | advmod |
| 6 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 8 walked | punct |
| 7 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 8 walked | cc |
| 8 | walked | walk | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 started | conj |
| 9 | as | as | ADV | _ | 10 far | advmod |
| 10 | far | far | ADV | Degree=Pos | 8 walked | advmod |
| 11 | as | as | ADP | _ | 14 water | case |
| 12 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 water | det |
| 13 | third | third | ADJ | Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord | 14 water | amod |
| 14 | water | water | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 walked | obl |
| 15 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 16 called | punct |
| 16 | called | call | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 14 water | acl |
| 17 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 19 elikatt | punct |
| 18 | Ofat | Ofat | PROPN | Number=Sing | 19 elikatt | compound |
| 19 | elikatt | elikatt | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 called | xcomp |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 19 elikatt | punct |
| 21 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 19 elikatt | punct |
| 22 | ( | ( | PUNCT | _ | 26 water | punct |
| 23 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 26 water | punct |
| 24 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 26 water | det |
| 25 | slippery | slippery | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 26 water | amod |
| 26 | water | water | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 elikatt | appos |
| 27 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 26 water | punct |
| 28 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 30 called | punct |
| 29 | so | so | ADV | _ | 30 called | advmod |
| 30 | called | call | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 3 started | parataxis |
| 31 | because | because | SCONJ | _ | 34 runs | mark |
| 32 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 33 stream | det |
| 33 | stream | stream | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 runs | nsubj |
| 34 | runs | run | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 30 called | advcl |
| 35 | so | so | ADV | _ | 36 fast | advmod |
| 36 | fast | fast | ADV | Degree=Pos | 34 runs | advmod |
| 37 | over | over | ADP | _ | 41 stones | case |
| 38 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 41 stones | det |
| 39 | stepping | step | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 41 stones | compound |
| 40 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 39 stepping | punct |
| 41 | stones | stone | NOUN | Number=Plur | 36 fast | obl |
| 42 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 44 causes | mark |
| 43 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 44 causes | nsubj |
| 44 | causes | cause | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 36 fast | advcl |
| 45 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 46 person | det |
| 46 | person | person | NOUN | Number=Sing | 48 foot | nmod:poss |
| 47 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 46 person | case |
| 48 | foot | foot | NOUN | Number=Sing | 44 causes | obj |
| 49 | to | to | PART | _ | 50 slip | mark |
| 50 | slip | slip | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 44 causes | advcl |
| 51 | ) | ) | PUNCT | _ | 50 slip | punct |
| 52 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 started | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | start off | past | women = woman | then; again | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | ||||
| 2 | walk | past | women = woman not said here | as the third water; far property | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 3 | call | participle | the third water not said here | Ofat elikatt | vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 4 | call | participle | vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||||
| 5 | run | present | the stream | fast property | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 6 | step | gerund | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||||
| 7 | cause | present | water | a person's foot | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition foot=Patient | ||||
| 8 | slip | to-infinitive | water not said here | vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
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/pg70959/25/78/