Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 3, sentence 46
The spider went across the river, spinning his web as he went, and then returned to the side where the people were standing.
Who acts: spider, people · What happens: go, spin, return, stand · To what, where: river, web
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 (spider, people), 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 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 spider | det |
| 2 | spider | spider | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 went | nsubj |
| 3 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | across | across | ADP | _ | 6 river | case |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 river | det |
| 6 | river | river | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 went | obl |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 8 spinning | punct |
| 8 | spinning | spin | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 3 went | advcl |
| 9 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 10 web | nmod:poss |
| 10 | web | web | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 spinning | obj |
| 11 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 13 went | mark |
| 12 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 13 went | nsubj |
| 13 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 spinning | advcl |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 17 returned | punct |
| 15 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 17 returned | cc |
| 16 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 17 returned | advmod |
| 17 | returned | return | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 went | conj |
| 18 | to | to | ADP | _ | 20 side | case |
| 19 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 side | det |
| 20 | side | side | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 returned | obl |
| 21 | where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 25 standing | advmod |
| 22 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 23 people | det |
| 23 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 25 standing | nsubj |
| 24 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 25 standing | aux |
| 25 | standing | stand | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 20 side | acl:relcl |
| 26 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 went | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | go | past | the spider | the river | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme across river=Initial_Location | ||||
| 2 | spin | gerund | the spider not said here | spider's web | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent web=Theme | ||||
| 3 | go | past | spider | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 4 | return | past | the spider not said here | then | to the side result | vn convert-26.6.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Patient to side=Result | |||
| 5 | stand | past · progressive | the people | vn assuming_position-50 «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/pg70959/26/46/