Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched Shell., sentence 104
The first day they went to the farm the little boy got his food down and eat it, but did not notice that a small boy from the neighbouring town was watching him.
Who acts: IGIRI, little boy, small boy · What happens: go, get down, eat, not notice, watch · To what, where: farm, food, chief
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched Shell.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (IGIRI, little boy, small boy), 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 | 3 day | det |
| 2 | first | first | ADJ | Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord | 3 day | amod |
| 3 | day | day | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 went | obl:unmarked |
| 4 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 went | nsubj |
| 5 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | to | to | ADP | _ | 8 farm | case |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 farm | det |
| 8 | farm | farm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 went | obl |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 boy | det |
| 10 | little | little | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 11 boy | amod |
| 11 | boy | boy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 got | nsubj |
| 12 | got | get | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 went | parataxis |
| 13 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 14 food | nmod:poss |
| 14 | food | food | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 got | obj |
| 15 | down | down | ADP | _ | 12 got | compound:prt |
| 16 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 17 eat | cc |
| 17 | eat | eat | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 12 got | conj |
| 18 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 17 eat | obj |
| 19 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 23 notice | punct |
| 20 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 23 notice | cc |
| 21 | did | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 23 notice | aux |
| 22 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 23 notice | advmod |
| 23 | notice | notice | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 5 went | conj |
| 24 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 33 watching | mark |
| 25 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 27 boy | det |
| 26 | small | small | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 27 boy | amod |
| 27 | boy | boy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 watching | nsubj |
| 28 | from | from | ADP | _ | 31 town | case |
| 29 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 31 town | det |
| 30 | neighbouring | neighbouring | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 town | compound |
| 31 | town | town | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 boy | nmod |
| 32 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 33 watching | aux |
| 33 | watching | watch | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 23 notice | advcl |
| 34 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 33 watching | obj |
| 35 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 went | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | go | past | IGIRI | the farm | day | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to farm=Initial_Location | |||
| 2 | get down | past | the little boy | boy's food | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | eat | present | the little boy not said here | food | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient | ||||
| 4 | not notice | past · do-support | IGIRI not said here | vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer | |||||
| 5 | watch | past · progressive | a small boy from the neighbouring town | chief | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
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/pg70959/4/104/