Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 2, sentence 84
When they arrived at their house, however, they found that Aictor had got there before them, for they saw him sitting on the top of a palm-tree, and when they came near they could hear him calling out, “Agbor Adam!
Who acts: men, Aictor · What happens: arrive, find, get, see, sit, come · To what, where: house, Aictor, top, Agbor Adam · 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 (men, Aictor), 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 | When | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 3 arrived | advmod |
| 2 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 arrived | nsubj |
| 3 | arrived | arrive | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 11 found | advcl |
| 4 | at | at | ADP | _ | 6 house | case |
| 5 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 6 house | nmod:poss |
| 6 | house | house | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 arrived | obl |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 8 however | punct |
| 8 | however | however | ADV | _ | 3 arrived | advmod |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 3 arrived | punct |
| 10 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 11 found | nsubj |
| 11 | found | find | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 12 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 15 got | mark |
| 13 | Aictor | Aictor | PROPN | Number=Sing | 15 got | nsubj |
| 14 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 15 got | aux |
| 15 | got | get | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 11 found | ccomp |
| 16 | there | there | ADV | PronType=Dem | 15 got | advmod |
| 17 | before | before | ADP | _ | 18 them | case |
| 18 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 15 got | obl |
| 19 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 22 saw | punct |
| 20 | for | for | SCONJ | _ | 22 saw | mark |
| 21 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 22 saw | nsubj |
| 22 | saw | see | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 11 found | conj |
| 23 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 22 saw | obj |
| 24 | sitting | sit | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 22 saw | xcomp |
| 25 | on | on | ADP | _ | 27 top | case |
| 26 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 27 top | det |
| 27 | top | top | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 sitting | obl |
| 28 | of | of | ADP | _ | 32 tree | case |
| 29 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 32 tree | det |
| 30 | palm | palm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 tree | compound |
| 31 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 30 palm | punct |
| 32 | tree | tree | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 top | nmod |
| 33 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 37 came | punct |
| 34 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 37 came | cc |
| 35 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 37 came | advmod |
| 36 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 37 came | nsubj |
| 37 | came | come | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 11 found | conj |
| 38 | near | near | ADP | _ | 41 hear | mark |
| 39 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 41 hear | nsubj |
| 40 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 41 hear | aux |
| 41 | hear | hear | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 37 came | advcl |
| 42 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 43 calling | nsubj |
| 43 | calling | call | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 41 hear | ccomp |
| 44 | out | out | ADP | _ | 43 calling | compound:prt |
| 45 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 48 Adam | punct |
| 46 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 48 Adam | punct |
| 47 | Agbor | Agbor | PROPN | Number=Sing | 48 Adam | compound |
| 48 | Adam | Adam | PROPN | Number=Sing | 43 calling | obl |
| 49 | ! | ! | PUNCT | _ | 11 found | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | arrive | past | men = man | men's house | however property | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||
| 2 | find | past | men = man | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | |||||
| 3 | get | past · perfect | Aictor | there | before men = man | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer | |||
| 4 | see | past | men = man | Aictor | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | sit | gerund | Aictor not said here | the top of a palm tree | vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on top=Location | ||||
| 6 | come | past | men = man | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 7 | hear | could | men = man | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | |||||
| 8 | call out speech: assert | gerund | Aictor | Agbor Adam | vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «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/pg70959/25/84/