Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper., sentence 27
At this the grasshopper could contain himself no longer, and burst into tears saying, “Three days ago, when we left our home, the spider asked me to call him ‘Stranger’ and said he would call me ‘Dabi.’
Who acts: we, spider, grasshopper · What happens: contain, burst, say, leave, ask, call · To what, where: grasshopper, tears, home, me · 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 (we, spider, grasshopper), 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 | _ | 4 grasshopper | case |
| 2 | this | this | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 4 grasshopper | det |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 grasshopper | det |
| 4 | grasshopper | grasshopper | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 contain | obl |
| 5 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 6 contain | aux |
| 6 | contain | contain | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 7 | himself | himself | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes | 6 contain | obj |
| 8 | no | no | ADV | _ | 9 longer | advmod |
| 9 | longer | long | ADV | Degree=Cmp | 6 contain | advmod |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 12 burst | punct |
| 11 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 12 burst | cc |
| 12 | burst | burst | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 contain | parataxis |
| 13 | into | into | ADP | _ | 14 tears | case |
| 14 | tears | tear | NOUN | Number=Plur | 12 burst | obl |
| 15 | saying | say | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 12 burst | advcl |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 ago | punct |
| 17 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 20 ago | punct |
| 18 | Three | three | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 19 days | nummod |
| 19 | days | day | NOUN | Number=Plur | 20 ago | obl:unmarked |
| 20 | ago | ago | ADV | _ | 15 saying | ccomp |
| 21 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 24 left | punct |
| 22 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 24 left | advmod |
| 23 | we | we | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 24 left | nsubj |
| 24 | left | leave | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 20 ago | parataxis |
| 25 | our | our | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 26 home | nmod:poss |
| 26 | home | home | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 left | obj |
| 27 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 30 asked | punct |
| 28 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 29 spider | det |
| 29 | spider | spider | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 asked | nsubj |
| 30 | asked | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 24 left | conj |
| 31 | me | I | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 30 asked | iobj |
| 32 | to | to | PART | _ | 33 call | mark |
| 33 | call | call | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 30 asked | xcomp |
| 34 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 33 call | obj |
| 35 | ‘ | ' | PUNCT | _ | 36 Stranger | punct |
| 36 | Stranger | stranger | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 call | xcomp |
| 37 | ’ | ' | PUNCT | _ | 36 Stranger | punct |
| 38 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 39 said | cc |
| 39 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 12 burst | conj |
| 40 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 42 call | nsubj |
| 41 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 42 call | aux |
| 42 | call | call | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 39 said | ccomp |
| 43 | me | I | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 42 call | obj |
| 44 | ‘ | ' | PUNCT | _ | 45 Dabi | punct |
| 45 | Dabi | Dabi | PROPN | Number=Sing | 42 call | xcomp |
| 46 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 6 contain | punct |
| 47 | ’ | ' | PUNCT | _ | 6 contain | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | contain | could | grasshopper | at this grasshopper; long property | vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot himself=Theme | ||||
| 2 | burst | past | tears | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 3 | say speech: assert | gerund | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | ||||||
| 4 | leave in a quote | past | we | our home | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent home=Theme | ||||
| 5 | ask speech: ask in a quote | past | the spider | me | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S_INF»: agent=Agent i=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 6 | call not said to happen, in a quote | to-infinitive | the spider not said here | grasshopper | Stranger xcomp | vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient | |||
| 7 | say speech: assert in a quote | past | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | ||||||
| 8 | call in a quote | would | grasshopper | me | Dabi xcomp | vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent i=Recipient |
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/pg70959/6/27/