Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper., sentence 28
During all this time I have been starving, and I am very hungry indeed, as all the food has been brought for ‘the Stranger,’ and the spider has eaten it because my name is Dabi, and I was never mentioned.”
Who acts: I, spider, name, my · What happens: starve, be, bring, eat, not mention, name · To what, where: food, Dabi, I
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 (I, spider, name, my), 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 | During | during | ADP | _ | 4 time | case |
| 2 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 4 time | det:predet |
| 3 | this | this | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 4 time | det |
| 4 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 starving | obl |
| 5 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 8 starving | nsubj |
| 6 | have | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 8 starving | aux |
| 7 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 8 starving | aux |
| 8 | starving | starve | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 14 hungry | punct |
| 10 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 14 hungry | cc |
| 11 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 14 hungry | nsubj |
| 12 | am | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 14 hungry | cop |
| 13 | very | very | ADV | _ | 14 hungry | advmod |
| 14 | hungry | hungry | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 starving | conj |
| 15 | indeed | indeed | ADV | _ | 14 hungry | advmod |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 23 brought | punct |
| 17 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 23 brought | mark |
| 18 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 20 food | det:predet |
| 19 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 food | det |
| 20 | food | food | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 brought | nsubj:pass |
| 21 | has | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 23 brought | aux |
| 22 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 23 brought | aux:pass |
| 23 | brought | bring | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 8 starving | conj |
| 24 | for | for | ADP | _ | 27 Stranger | case |
| 25 | ‘ | ' | PUNCT | _ | 27 Stranger | punct |
| 26 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 27 Stranger | det |
| 27 | Stranger | stranger | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 brought | obl |
| 28 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 27 Stranger | punct |
| 29 | ’ | ' | PUNCT | _ | 23 brought | punct |
| 30 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 34 eaten | cc |
| 31 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 32 spider | det |
| 32 | spider | spider | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 eaten | nsubj |
| 33 | has | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 34 eaten | aux |
| 34 | eaten | eat | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 23 brought | conj |
| 35 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 34 eaten | obj |
| 36 | because | because | SCONJ | _ | 40 Dabi | mark |
| 37 | my | my | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 38 name | nmod:poss |
| 38 | name | name | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 Dabi | nsubj |
| 39 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 40 Dabi | cop |
| 40 | Dabi | Dabi | PROPN | Number=Sing | 34 eaten | obl |
| 41 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 46 mentioned | punct |
| 42 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 46 mentioned | cc |
| 43 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 46 mentioned | nsubj |
| 44 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 46 mentioned | aux:pass |
| 45 | never | never | ADV | PronType=Neg | 46 mentioned | advmod |
| 46 | mentioned | mention | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 8 starving | advcl |
| 47 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 46 mentioned | punct |
| 48 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 46 mentioned | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | starve | present · perfect · progressive | I | time | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | is | present | I | hungry, indeed property | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | bring | present · perfect · passive | all food | for the Stranger | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: subject=Theme | ||||
| 4 | eat | present · perfect | the spider | food | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient | ||||
| 5 | is a | present | my name | Dabi | tree rules | ||||
| 6 | not mention speech: other | past · passive | I | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic | |||||
| 7 | name | my | 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/pg70959/6/28/