Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper., sentence 43
Everything was quiet when he returned, so he lifted the lid again, and took out a large piece of yam, and had only taken one bite, when his eye was caught by the grasshopper’s skin in the same place where he had seen it before.
Who acts: Everything, grasshopper, skin · What happens: be, return, lift, take out, take, catch · To what, where: lid, large piece, one bite, eye, same place, piece
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 (Everything, grasshopper, skin), 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 | Everything | everything | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Tot | 3 quiet | nsubj |
| 2 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 quiet | cop |
| 3 | quiet | quiet | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 4 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 6 returned | advmod |
| 5 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 6 returned | nsubj |
| 6 | returned | return | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 quiet | parataxis |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 10 lifted | punct |
| 8 | so | so | ADV | _ | 10 lifted | advmod |
| 9 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 10 lifted | nsubj |
| 10 | lifted | lift | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 quiet | parataxis |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 lid | det |
| 12 | lid | lid | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 lifted | obj |
| 13 | again | again | ADV | _ | 10 lifted | advmod |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 16 took | punct |
| 15 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 16 took | cc |
| 16 | took | take | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 10 lifted | conj |
| 17 | out | out | ADP | _ | 16 took | compound:prt |
| 18 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 20 piece | det |
| 19 | large | large | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 20 piece | amod |
| 20 | piece | piece | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 took | obj |
| 21 | of | of | ADP | _ | 22 yam | case |
| 22 | yam | yam | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 piece | nmod |
| 23 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 27 taken | punct |
| 24 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 27 taken | cc |
| 25 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 27 taken | aux |
| 26 | only | only | ADV | _ | 27 taken | advmod |
| 27 | taken | take | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 16 took | parataxis |
| 28 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 29 bite | nummod |
| 29 | bite | bite | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 taken | obj |
| 30 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 35 caught | punct |
| 31 | when | when | SCONJ | _ | 35 caught | mark |
| 32 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 33 eye | nmod:poss |
| 33 | eye | eye | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 caught | nsubj:pass |
| 34 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 35 caught | aux:pass |
| 35 | caught | catch | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 27 taken | conj |
| 36 | by | by | ADP | _ | 40 skin | case |
| 37 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 38 grasshopper | det |
| 38 | grasshopper | grasshopper | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 skin | nmod:poss |
| 39 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 38 grasshopper | case |
| 40 | skin | skin | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 caught | obl |
| 41 | in | in | ADP | _ | 44 place | case |
| 42 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 44 place | det |
| 43 | same | same | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 44 place | amod |
| 44 | place | place | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 caught | obl |
| 45 | where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 48 seen | advmod |
| 46 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 48 seen | nsubj |
| 47 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 48 seen | aux |
| 48 | seen | see | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 44 place | acl:relcl |
| 49 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 48 seen | obj |
| 50 | before | before | ADV | _ | 48 seen | advmod |
| 51 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 quiet | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | Everything | quiet property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | return | past | grasshopper | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 3 | lift | past | grasshopper | the lid | again | vn put_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lid=Theme | |||
| 4 | take out | past | grasshopper not said here | a large piece of yam | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent piece=Theme | ||||
| 5 | take | past · perfect | one bite | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bite=Theme | |||||
| 6 | catch | past · passive | the grasshopper's skin | grasshopper's eye | the same place | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme | |||
| 7 | see | past · perfect | grasshopper | piece | before property | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |
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/pg70959/6/43/