Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper., sentence 49
After walking a short distance outside the town, the spider was so hungry that he stopped and killed the dog his father-in-law had given, and very soon had eaten the whole of it.
Who acts: spider, chief, father · What happens: walk, be, stop, kill, give, eat · To what, where: short distance, town, dog
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, chief, father), 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 | After | after | SCONJ | _ | 2 walking | mark |
| 2 | walking | walk | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 14 hungry | advcl |
| 3 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 5 distance | det |
| 4 | short | short | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 distance | amod |
| 5 | distance | distance | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 walking | obj |
| 6 | outside | outside | ADP | _ | 8 town | case |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 town | det |
| 8 | town | town | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 distance | nmod |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 2 walking | punct |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 spider | det |
| 11 | spider | spider | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 hungry | nsubj |
| 12 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 14 hungry | cop |
| 13 | so | so | ADV | _ | 14 hungry | advmod |
| 14 | hungry | hungry | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 15 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 17 stopped | mark |
| 16 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 17 stopped | nsubj |
| 17 | stopped | stop | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 14 hungry | advcl |
| 18 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 19 killed | cc |
| 19 | killed | kill | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 17 stopped | conj |
| 20 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 21 dog | det |
| 21 | dog | dog | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 killed | obj |
| 22 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 23 father | nmod:poss |
| 23 | father | father | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 given | nsubj |
| 24 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 27 law | punct |
| 25 | in | in | ADP | _ | 27 law | case |
| 26 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 25 in | punct |
| 27 | law | law | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 father | nmod |
| 28 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 29 given | aux |
| 29 | given | give | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 21 dog | acl:relcl |
| 30 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 35 eaten | punct |
| 31 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 35 eaten | cc |
| 32 | very | very | ADV | _ | 33 soon | advmod |
| 33 | soon | soon | ADV | Degree=Pos | 35 eaten | advmod |
| 34 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 35 eaten | aux |
| 35 | eaten | eat | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 14 hungry | conj |
| 36 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 37 whole | det |
| 37 | whole | whole | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 35 eaten | xcomp |
| 38 | of | of | ADP | _ | 39 it | case |
| 39 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 37 whole | obl |
| 40 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 14 hungry | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | walk | gerund | the spider not said here | a short distance | the town | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent distance=Theme outside town=Trajectory | |||
| 2 | is | past | the spider | hungry property | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | stop | past | chief | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | |||||
| 4 | kill | past | chief not said here | the dog | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dog=Theme | ||||
| 5 | give | past · perfect | chief's father in law | the dog not said here | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dog=Theme | ||||
| 6 | eat | past · perfect | the spider not said here | soon, whole property | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=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/pg70959/6/49/