Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched Shell., sentence 28
He tried to explain that he had left the meat before the fire when he went to bed, but the hare got up at once and said, “Do not believe him, most likely he has sold the meat to get some money.
Who acts: Keroho, hare · What happens: try, explain, leave, go, get up, say · To what, where: meat, fire, bed, Keroho, money · Speech: someone speaks here
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 (Keroho, hare), 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 | He | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 2 tried | nsubj |
| 2 | tried | try | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | to | to | PART | _ | 4 explain | mark |
| 4 | explain | explain | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 2 tried | xcomp |
| 5 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 8 left | mark |
| 6 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 8 left | nsubj |
| 7 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 left | aux |
| 8 | left | leave | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 4 explain | ccomp |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 meat | det |
| 10 | meat | meat | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 left | obj |
| 11 | before | before | ADP | _ | 13 fire | case |
| 12 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 13 fire | det |
| 13 | fire | fire | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 left | obl |
| 14 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 16 went | advmod |
| 15 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 16 went | nsubj |
| 16 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 left | advcl |
| 17 | to | to | ADP | _ | 18 bed | case |
| 18 | bed | bed | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 went | obl |
| 19 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 23 got | punct |
| 20 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 23 got | cc |
| 21 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 22 hare | det |
| 22 | hare | hare | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 got | nsubj |
| 23 | got | get | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 2 tried | parataxis |
| 24 | up | up | ADP | _ | 23 got | compound:prt |
| 25 | at | at | ADP | _ | 26 once | case |
| 26 | once | once | ADV | NumForm=Word NumType=Mult | 23 got | obl |
| 27 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 28 said | cc |
| 28 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 23 got | conj |
| 29 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 33 believe | punct |
| 30 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 33 believe | punct |
| 31 | Do | do | AUX | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | 33 believe | aux |
| 32 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 33 believe | advmod |
| 33 | believe | believe | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 28 said | ccomp |
| 34 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 33 believe | obj |
| 35 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 40 sold | punct |
| 36 | most | most | ADV | Degree=Sup | 37 likely | advmod |
| 37 | likely | likely | ADV | _ | 40 sold | advmod |
| 38 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 40 sold | nsubj |
| 39 | has | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 40 sold | aux |
| 40 | sold | sell | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 33 believe | parataxis |
| 41 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 42 meat | det |
| 42 | meat | meat | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 sold | obj |
| 43 | to | to | PART | _ | 44 get | mark |
| 44 | get | get | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 40 sold | advcl |
| 45 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 46 money | det |
| 46 | money | money | NOUN | Number=Sing | 44 get | obj |
| 47 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 tried | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | try | past | Keroho | vn try-61.1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | |||||
| 2 | explain speech: assert not said to happen | to-infinitive | Keroho not said here | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 3 | leave | past · perfect | Keroho | the meat | the fire | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent meat=Theme before fire=Location | |||
| 4 | go | past | Keroho | bed | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to bed=Initial_Location | ||||
| 5 | get up | past | the hare | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer | |||||
| 6 | say speech: assert | past | the hare not said here | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 7 | not believe in a quote | infinitive · do-support | Keroho | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus | |||||
| 8 | sell in a quote | present · perfect | Keroho | the meat | likely property | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meat=Theme | |||
| 9 | get in a quote | to-infinitive | Keroho not said here | some money | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer money=Stimulus |
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/pg70959/4/28/