Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Iv.--how Elili of Inkum Died, and Was Brought Back to Life Again., sentence 40
As the grave was very big and deep they put sticks across it, wedged firmly into the sides, planks were then placed over the sticks, and the planks were covered with sand.
Who acts: boys · What happens: be, put, wedge, place, cover · To what, where: sticks, grave, sides, planks
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Iv.--how Elili of Inkum Died, and Was Brought Back to Life Again.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (boys), 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 | As | as | ADP | _ | 3 grave | case |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 grave | det |
| 3 | grave | grave | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 big | obl |
| 4 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 big | cop |
| 5 | very | very | ADV | _ | 6 big | advmod |
| 6 | big | big | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 7 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 8 deep | cc |
| 8 | deep | deep | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 big | conj |
| 9 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 10 put | nsubj |
| 10 | put | put | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 big | parataxis |
| 11 | sticks | stick | NOUN | Number=Plur | 10 put | obj |
| 12 | across | across | ADP | _ | 13 it | case |
| 13 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 10 put | obl |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 wedged | punct |
| 15 | wedged | wedge | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 big | conj |
| 16 | firmly | firmly | ADV | _ | 15 wedged | advmod |
| 17 | into | into | ADP | _ | 19 sides | case |
| 18 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 19 sides | det |
| 19 | sides | side | NOUN | Number=Plur | 15 wedged | obl |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 24 placed | punct |
| 21 | planks | plank | NOUN | Number=Plur | 24 placed | nsubj:pass |
| 22 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 24 placed | aux:pass |
| 23 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 24 placed | advmod |
| 24 | placed | place | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 15 wedged | parataxis |
| 25 | over | over | ADP | _ | 27 sticks | case |
| 26 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 27 sticks | det |
| 27 | sticks | stick | NOUN | Number=Plur | 24 placed | obl |
| 28 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 33 covered | punct |
| 29 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 33 covered | cc |
| 30 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 31 planks | det |
| 31 | planks | plank | NOUN | Number=Plur | 33 covered | nsubj:pass |
| 32 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 33 covered | aux:pass |
| 33 | covered | cover | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 24 placed | conj |
| 34 | with | with | ADP | _ | 35 sand | case |
| 35 | sand | sand | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 covered | obl |
| 36 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 6 big | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | as the grave; big property | tree rules | |||||
| 2 | be | tree rules | |||||||
| 3 | put | past | boys = boy | sticks | grave | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent stick=Goal | |||
| 4 | wedge | past | the sides | firmly property | vn funnel-9.3-1-1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme into side=Destination | ||||
| 5 | place | past · passive | planks | the sticks | then | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme over stick=Destination | |||
| 6 | cover | past · passive | the planks | with sand | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Destination with sand=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/pg70959/5/40/