Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 2, sentence 81
As they did not understand what the bird said, they started off to run again, and did not stop until they reached the small stream quite close to the town, which is called “Ezi Ifom” (“the water where the cows drink”).
Who acts: women, bird, cows · What happens: not understand, say, start off, run, not stop, reach · To what, where: small stream, town · 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, cows), 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 | As | as | SCONJ | _ | 5 understand | mark |
| 2 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 understand | nsubj |
| 3 | did | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 understand | aux |
| 4 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 5 understand | advmod |
| 5 | understand | understand | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 21 stop | advcl |
| 6 | what | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 9 said | obj |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 bird | det |
| 8 | bird | bird | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 said | nsubj |
| 9 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 understand | ccomp |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 12 started | punct |
| 11 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 12 started | nsubj |
| 12 | started | start | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 said | conj |
| 13 | off | off | ADP | _ | 12 started | compound:prt |
| 14 | to | to | PART | _ | 15 run | mark |
| 15 | run | run | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 12 started | xcomp |
| 16 | again | again | ADV | _ | 15 run | advmod |
| 17 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 21 stop | punct |
| 18 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 21 stop | cc |
| 19 | did | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 21 stop | aux |
| 20 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 21 stop | advmod |
| 21 | stop | stop | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 22 | until | until | SCONJ | _ | 24 reached | mark |
| 23 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 24 reached | nsubj |
| 24 | reached | reach | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 21 stop | advcl |
| 25 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 27 stream | det |
| 26 | small | small | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 27 stream | amod |
| 27 | stream | stream | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 reached | obj |
| 28 | quite | quite | ADV | _ | 29 close | advmod |
| 29 | close | close | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 27 stream | amod |
| 30 | to | to | ADP | _ | 32 town | case |
| 31 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 32 town | det |
| 32 | town | town | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 close | obl |
| 33 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 36 called | punct |
| 34 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 36 called | nsubj:pass |
| 35 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 36 called | aux:pass |
| 36 | called | call | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 32 town | acl:relcl |
| 37 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 38 Ezi | punct |
| 38 | Ezi | Ezi | PROPN | Number=Sing | 36 called | xcomp |
| 39 | Ifom | Ifom | PROPN | Number=Sing | 38 Ezi | flat |
| 40 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 38 Ezi | punct |
| 41 | ( | ( | PUNCT | _ | 44 water | punct |
| 42 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 44 water | punct |
| 43 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 44 water | det |
| 44 | water | water | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 reached | obj |
| 45 | where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 48 drink | advmod |
| 46 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 47 cows | det |
| 47 | cows | cow | NOUN | Number=Plur | 48 drink | nsubj |
| 48 | drink | drink | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 44 water | acl:relcl |
| 49 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 48 drink | punct |
| 50 | ) | ) | PUNCT | _ | 44 water | punct |
| 51 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 21 stop | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not understand | past · do-support | women = woman | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | |||||
| 2 | say speech: assert | past | the bird | what obj | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic | ||||
| 3 | start off | past | women = woman | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | |||||
| 4 | run | to-infinitive | women = woman not said here | again | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 5 | not stop | past · do-support | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | ||||||
| 6 | reach | past | women = woman | the small stream | the water obj | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP.beneficiary NP»: agent=Agent stream=Beneficiary water=Theme | |||
| 7 | call speech: assert | present · passive | the town | Ezi xcomp | vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient | ||||
| 8 | drink in a quote | present | the cows | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=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/pg70959/25/81/