Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper., sentence 14
The next day they resumed their journey, and when they arrived at the town where the girl lived whom the spider was about to marry, he went to his future father-in-law’s house, whose name was Tawn, and said, “Tawn, I have come to marry your daughter.”
Who acts: spider, girl, Stranger, name, Tawn · What happens: resume, arrive, live, be, marry, go · To what, where: journey, town, future house, Tawn, daughter · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (spider, girl, Stranger, name), 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 | next | next | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 day | amod |
| 3 | day | day | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 resumed | obl:unmarked |
| 4 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 resumed | nsubj |
| 5 | resumed | resume | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 7 journey | nmod:poss |
| 7 | journey | journey | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 resumed | obj |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 12 arrived | punct |
| 9 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 12 arrived | cc |
| 10 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 12 arrived | advmod |
| 11 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 12 arrived | nsubj |
| 12 | arrived | arrive | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 resumed | conj |
| 13 | at | at | ADP | _ | 15 town | case |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 15 town | det |
| 15 | town | town | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 arrived | obl |
| 16 | where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 19 lived | advmod |
| 17 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 18 girl | det |
| 18 | girl | girl | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 lived | nsubj |
| 19 | lived | live | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 15 town | acl:relcl |
| 20 | whom | whom | PRON | PronType=Rel | 19 lived | obj |
| 21 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 22 spider | det |
| 22 | spider | spider | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 about | nsubj |
| 23 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 24 about | cop |
| 24 | about | about | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 20 whom | acl:relcl |
| 25 | to | to | PART | _ | 26 marry | mark |
| 26 | marry | marry | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 24 about | xcomp |
| 27 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 29 went | punct |
| 28 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 29 went | nsubj |
| 29 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 resumed | conj |
| 30 | to | to | ADP | _ | 39 house | case |
| 31 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 39 house | nmod:poss |
| 32 | future | future | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 39 house | amod |
| 33 | father | father | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 house | nsubj |
| 34 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 39 house | punct |
| 35 | in | in | ADP | _ | 39 house | case |
| 36 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 35 in | punct |
| 37 | law | law | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 house | nmod:poss |
| 38 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 37 law | case |
| 39 | house | house | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 went | obl |
| 40 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 44 Tawn | punct |
| 41 | whose | whose | PRON | Poss=Yes PronType=Rel | 42 name | nmod:poss |
| 42 | name | name | NOUN | Number=Sing | 44 Tawn | nsubj |
| 43 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 44 Tawn | cop |
| 44 | Tawn | Tawn | PROPN | Number=Sing | 39 house | conj |
| 45 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 47 said | punct |
| 46 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 47 said | cc |
| 47 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 resumed | conj |
| 48 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 50 Tawn | punct |
| 49 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 50 Tawn | punct |
| 50 | Tawn | Tawn | PROPN | Number=Sing | 47 said | obl |
| 51 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 54 come | punct |
| 52 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 54 come | nsubj |
| 53 | have | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 54 come | aux |
| 54 | come | come | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 5 resumed | parataxis |
| 55 | to | to | PART | _ | 56 marry | mark |
| 56 | marry | marry | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 54 come | xcomp |
| 57 | your | your | PRON | Case=Gen Person=2 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 58 daughter | nmod:poss |
| 58 | daughter | daughter | NOUN | Number=Sing | 56 marry | obj |
| 59 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 54 come | punct |
| 60 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 5 resumed | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | resume | past | spider | spider's journey | day | tree rules | |||
| 2 | arrive | past | spider | the town | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 3 | live | past | the girl | the town | vn lodge-46 «NP V ADV»: agent=Theme whom=Location | ||||
| 4 | is | past | the spider | about property | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | marry | to-infinitive | the spider not said here | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient | |||||
| 6 | go | past | Stranger | Stranger's future house father and Tawn | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to house=Initial_Location | ||||
| 7 | is a | past | Tawn's name | Tawn | tree rules | ||||
| 8 | say speech: assert | past | spider not said here | Tawn | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 9 | come in a quote | present · perfect | this spider = spider | tree rules | |||||
| 10 | marry in a quote | to-infinitive | this spider = spider not said here | your daughter | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent daughter=Patient | ||||
| 11 | journey | spider | nom journey «act transitive»: poss=agent | ||||||
| 12 | name | Tawn | nom name «communication transitive»: poss=agent |
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/pg70959/6/14/