Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched Shell., sentence 109
They did their best to persuade him to return home with them, but he was obstinate, and ran away to the place in the forest where he came from, and, having arrived there, turned himself into a mushroom and disappeared for ever.
Who acts: parents, boy · What happens: do, persuade, return, be, run away, come · To what, where: best, boy, mushroom
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 (parents, 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 | They | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 2 did | nsubj |
| 2 | did | do | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 4 best | nmod:poss |
| 4 | best | good | ADJ | Degree=Sup | 2 did | obj |
| 5 | to | to | PART | _ | 6 persuade | mark |
| 6 | persuade | persuade | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 2 did | advcl |
| 7 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 6 persuade | obj |
| 8 | to | to | PART | _ | 9 return | mark |
| 9 | return | return | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 6 persuade | xcomp |
| 10 | home | home | ADV | _ | 9 return | advmod |
| 11 | with | with | ADP | _ | 12 them | case |
| 12 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 9 return | obl |
| 13 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 17 obstinate | punct |
| 14 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 17 obstinate | cc |
| 15 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 17 obstinate | nsubj |
| 16 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 17 obstinate | cop |
| 17 | obstinate | obstinate | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 2 did | parataxis |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 ran | punct |
| 19 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 20 ran | cc |
| 20 | ran | run | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 17 obstinate | parataxis |
| 21 | away | away | ADV | _ | 20 ran | advmod |
| 22 | to | to | ADP | _ | 24 place | case |
| 23 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 24 place | det |
| 24 | place | place | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 ran | obl |
| 25 | in | in | ADP | _ | 27 forest | case |
| 26 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 27 forest | det |
| 27 | forest | forest | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 place | nmod |
| 28 | where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 30 came | advmod |
| 29 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 30 came | nsubj |
| 30 | came | come | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 27 forest | acl:relcl |
| 31 | from | from | ADP | _ | 30 came | obl |
| 32 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 36 arrived | punct |
| 33 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 36 arrived | cc |
| 34 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 35 having | punct |
| 35 | having | have | AUX | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 36 arrived | aux |
| 36 | arrived | arrive | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 20 ran | parataxis |
| 37 | there | there | ADV | PronType=Dem | 36 arrived | advmod |
| 38 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 39 turned | punct |
| 39 | turned | turn | VERB | Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 36 arrived | conj |
| 40 | himself | himself | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes | 39 turned | obj |
| 41 | into | into | ADP | _ | 43 mushroom | case |
| 42 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 43 mushroom | det |
| 43 | mushroom | mushroom | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 turned | obl |
| 44 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 45 disappeared | cc |
| 45 | disappeared | disappear | VERB | Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 39 turned | conj |
| 46 | for | for | ADP | _ | 47 ever | case |
| 47 | ever | ever | ADV | PronType=Ind | 45 disappeared | obl |
| 48 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 did | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | do | past | parents = parent | parents's best | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent good=Eventuality | ||||
| 2 | persuade | to-infinitive | parents = parent not said here | boy | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent he=Patient clause=Result | ||||
| 3 | return | to-infinitive | boy not said here | with parents = parent; home property | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 4 | is | past | boy | obstinate property | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | run away | past | to the place in the forest result; away property | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme to place=Result | |||||
| 6 | come | past | boy | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 7 | arrive | gerund · perfect | there | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 8 | turn | past | boy | a mushroom | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent himself=Theme into mushroom=Trajectory | ||||
| 9 | disappear | past | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=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/pg70959/4/109/