Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 2, sentence 79
Having rested for a little while, they started off again, but had only gone a few steps when the bird once more attracted their attention by calling Agbor’s name.
Who acts: women, bird, Agbor · What happens: have, rest, start off, go, attract, call · To what, where: few steps, attention, name · 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, bird, Agbor), 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 | Having | have | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 9 started | advcl |
| 2 | rested | rest | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 1 Having | xcomp |
| 3 | for | for | ADP | _ | 6 while | case |
| 4 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 6 while | det |
| 5 | little | little | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 while | amod |
| 6 | while | while | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 rested | obl |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 Having | punct |
| 8 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 9 started | nsubj |
| 9 | started | start | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 10 | off | off | ADP | _ | 9 started | compound:prt |
| 11 | again | again | ADV | _ | 9 started | advmod |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 16 gone | punct |
| 13 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 16 gone | cc |
| 14 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 16 gone | aux |
| 15 | only | only | ADV | _ | 16 gone | advmod |
| 16 | gone | go | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 9 started | parataxis |
| 17 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 19 steps | det |
| 18 | few | few | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 19 steps | amod |
| 19 | steps | step | NOUN | Number=Plur | 16 gone | obj |
| 20 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 25 attracted | advmod |
| 21 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 22 bird | det |
| 22 | bird | bird | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 attracted | nsubj |
| 23 | once | once | ADV | NumForm=Word NumType=Mult | 25 attracted | advmod |
| 24 | more | more | ADV | Degree=Cmp | 25 attracted | advmod |
| 25 | attracted | attract | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 19 steps | advcl |
| 26 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 27 attention | nmod:poss |
| 27 | attention | attention | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 attracted | obj |
| 28 | by | by | SCONJ | _ | 29 calling | mark |
| 29 | calling | call | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 25 attracted | advcl |
| 30 | Agbor | Agbor | PROPN | Number=Sing | 32 name | nmod:poss |
| 31 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 30 Agbor | case |
| 32 | name | name | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 calling | obj |
| 33 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 9 started | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | have | gerund | women = woman not said here | tree rules | |||||
| 2 | rest | participle | women = woman not said here | while | vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 3 | start off | past | women = woman | again | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | ||||
| 4 | go | past · perfect | a few steps | vn meander-47.7 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location step=Theme | |||||
| 5 | attract | past | the bird | women's attention | once property | vn lure-59.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent attention=Patient | |||
| 6 | call | gerund | the bird not said here | Agbor's name | vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent name=Recipient | ||||
| 7 | attend | women = woman | nom attention «cognition intransitive»: poss=agent | ||||||
| 8 | name | Agbor | nom name «communication transitive»: poss=agent |
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/pg70959/25/79/