Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper., sentence 54
As the grasshopper had gone on in front and had not waited for his dog, the spider took the buck, and, having cut its head off and put it in his bag next to the dog’s skull, he sat down and eat the body.
Who acts: grasshopper, spider · What happens: go on, not wait, take, have off, put, sit down · To what, where: front, buck, dog, bag, body
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 (grasshopper, spider), 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 | As | as | SCONJ | _ | 5 gone | mark |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 grasshopper | det |
| 3 | grasshopper | grasshopper | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 gone | nsubj |
| 4 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 gone | aux |
| 5 | gone | go | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 19 took | advcl |
| 6 | on | on | ADP | _ | 5 gone | compound:prt |
| 7 | in | in | ADP | _ | 8 front | case |
| 8 | front | front | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 gone | obl |
| 9 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 12 waited | cc |
| 10 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 12 waited | aux |
| 11 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 12 waited | advmod |
| 12 | waited | wait | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 5 gone | conj |
| 13 | for | for | ADP | _ | 15 dog | case |
| 14 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 15 dog | nmod:poss |
| 15 | dog | dog | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 waited | obl |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 5 gone | punct |
| 17 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 18 spider | det |
| 18 | spider | spider | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 took | nsubj |
| 19 | took | take | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 20 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 21 buck | det |
| 21 | buck | buck | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 took | obj |
| 22 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 25 having | punct |
| 23 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 25 having | cc |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 25 having | punct |
| 25 | having | have | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 19 took | parataxis |
| 26 | cut | cut | ADP | _ | 28 head | case |
| 27 | its | its | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 28 head | nmod:poss |
| 28 | head | head | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 having | obl |
| 29 | off | off | ADP | _ | 25 having | compound:prt |
| 30 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 31 put | cc |
| 31 | put | put | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 25 having | conj |
| 32 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 31 put | obj |
| 33 | in | in | ADP | _ | 35 bag | case |
| 34 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 35 bag | nmod:poss |
| 35 | bag | bag | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 put | obl |
| 36 | next | next | ADV | _ | 41 skull | advmod |
| 37 | to | to | ADP | _ | 41 skull | case |
| 38 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 39 dog | det |
| 39 | dog | dog | NOUN | Number=Sing | 41 skull | nmod:poss |
| 40 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 39 dog | case |
| 41 | skull | skull | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 put | obl |
| 42 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 44 sat | punct |
| 43 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 44 sat | nsubj |
| 44 | sat | sit | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 19 took | parataxis |
| 45 | down | down | ADP | _ | 44 sat | compound:prt |
| 46 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 47 eat | cc |
| 47 | eat | eat | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres Typo=Yes VerbForm=Fin | 44 sat | conj |
| 48 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 49 body | det |
| 49 | body | body | NOUN | Number=Sing | 47 eat | obj |
| 50 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 19 took | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | go on | past · perfect | the grasshopper | front | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme in front=Location | ||||
| 2 | not wait | past · perfect | the grasshopper not said here | for grasshopper's dog | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 3 | take | past | the spider | the buck | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent buck=Theme | ||||
| 4 | have off | gerund | cut dog's head | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 5 | put | infinitive | dog | grasshopper's bag | to the dog's skull | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent it=Theme in bag=Destination | |||
| 6 | sit down | past | grasshopper | vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 7 | eat | present | grasshopper not said here | the body | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent body=Patient |
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/pg70959/6/54/