Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 3, sentence 42
While he was eating, his father returned from the farm, and, missing the goat, asked Ode what had become of it.
Who acts: BROTHER, father · What happens: eat, return, miss, ask, become · To what, where: farm, goat, Ode · 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 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (BROTHER, father), 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 | While | while | SCONJ | _ | 4 eating | mark |
| 2 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 eating | nsubj |
| 3 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 eating | aux |
| 4 | eating | eat | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 8 returned | advcl |
| 5 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 4 eating | punct |
| 6 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 7 father | nmod:poss |
| 7 | father | father | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 returned | nsubj |
| 8 | returned | return | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 9 | from | from | ADP | _ | 11 farm | case |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 farm | det |
| 11 | farm | farm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 returned | obl |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 19 asked | punct |
| 13 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 19 asked | cc |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 missing | punct |
| 15 | missing | miss | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 19 asked | ccomp |
| 16 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 17 goat | det |
| 17 | goat | goat | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 missing | obj |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 missing | punct |
| 19 | asked | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 returned | conj |
| 20 | Ode | Ode | PROPN | Number=Sing | 19 asked | iobj |
| 21 | what | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 23 become | nsubj |
| 22 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 23 become | aux |
| 23 | become | become | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 19 asked | ccomp |
| 24 | of | of | ADP | _ | 25 it | case |
| 25 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 23 become | obl |
| 26 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 8 returned | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | eat | past · progressive | BROTHER | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 2 | return | past | BROTHER's father | the farm | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme from farm=Initial_Location | ||||
| 3 | miss | gerund | the goat | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer goat=Stimulus | |||||
| 4 | ask speech: ask | past | BROTHER's father not said here | Ode | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent ode=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 5 | become | past · perfect | of farm; what nsubj | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
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/pg70959/26/42/