Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched Shell., sentence 93
At this he was rather surprised, as, although it is the custom for anyone near to help the women to put down their heavy loads when they come in from the farm, this would not be done with a light load like mushrooms.
Who acts: husband, basket, anyone, women, loads · What happens: be, help, put down, come in, not do · To what, where: this, custom, women, heavy loads, farm
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 (husband, basket, anyone, women), 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 | At | at | ADP | _ | 2 this | case |
| 2 | this | this | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 6 surprised | obl |
| 3 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 6 surprised | nsubj |
| 4 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 surprised | cop |
| 5 | rather | rather | ADV | _ | 6 surprised | advmod |
| 6 | surprised | surprised | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 14 custom | punct |
| 8 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 14 custom | mark |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 14 custom | punct |
| 10 | although | although | SCONJ | _ | 14 custom | mark |
| 11 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 14 custom | nsubj |
| 12 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 14 custom | cop |
| 13 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 custom | det |
| 14 | custom | custom | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 surprised | obl |
| 15 | for | for | ADP | _ | 16 anyone | case |
| 16 | anyone | anyone | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Ind | 19 help | nsubj |
| 17 | near | near | ADV | _ | 19 help | advmod |
| 18 | to | to | PART | _ | 19 help | mark |
| 19 | help | help | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 14 custom | acl:relcl |
| 20 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 21 women | det |
| 21 | women | woman | NOUN | Number=Plur | 19 help | obj |
| 22 | to | to | PART | _ | 23 put | mark |
| 23 | put | put | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 19 help | xcomp |
| 24 | down | down | ADP | _ | 23 put | compound:prt |
| 25 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 27 loads | nmod:poss |
| 26 | heavy | heavy | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 27 loads | amod |
| 27 | loads | load | NOUN | Number=Plur | 23 put | obj |
| 28 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 30 come | advmod |
| 29 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 30 come | nsubj |
| 30 | come | come | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 23 put | advcl |
| 31 | in | in | ADV | _ | 30 come | advmod |
| 32 | from | from | ADP | _ | 34 farm | case |
| 33 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 34 farm | det |
| 34 | farm | farm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 come | obl |
| 35 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 40 done | punct |
| 36 | this | this | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 40 done | nsubj |
| 37 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 40 done | aux |
| 38 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 40 done | advmod |
| 39 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 40 done | aux:pass |
| 40 | done | do | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 6 surprised | conj |
| 41 | with | with | ADP | _ | 44 load | case |
| 42 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 44 load | det |
| 43 | light | light | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 44 load | amod |
| 44 | load | load | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 done | obl |
| 45 | like | like | ADP | _ | 46 mushrooms | case |
| 46 | mushrooms | mushroom | NOUN | Number=Plur | 44 load | nmod |
| 47 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 6 surprised | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | husband | this | surprised property | tree rules | |||
| 2 | is a | present | basket | the custom | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | help | to-infinitive | anyone | the women | near property | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent woman=Beneficiary clause=Theme | |||
| 4 | put down | to-infinitive | the women not said here | IGIRI's heavy loads | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent load=Goal | ||||
| 5 | come in | present | loads = load | the farm | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme from farm=Initial_Location | ||||
| 6 | not do | would · passive | this | with a light load like mushrooms | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality |
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/pg70959/4/93/