Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop., sentence 134
The porcupine waited until the evening came, and then, having thanked the water ju-ju for his kindness, swam off with Ogor, and took him to his mother’s house, taking care to go by the back way so that no one should see them.
Who acts: porcupine, evening, water, one · What happens: wait, come, thank, ju, swim off, take · To what, where: water, house, care, houses
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (porcupine, evening, water, one), 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 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 porcupine | det |
| 2 | porcupine | porcupine | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 waited | nsubj |
| 3 | waited | wait | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | until | until | SCONJ | _ | 7 came | mark |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 evening | det |
| 6 | evening | evening | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 came | nsubj |
| 7 | came | come | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 waited | advcl |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 13 thanked | punct |
| 9 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 13 thanked | cc |
| 10 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 13 thanked | advmod |
| 11 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 13 thanked | punct |
| 12 | having | have | AUX | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 13 thanked | aux |
| 13 | thanked | thank | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 3 waited | conj |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 18 ju | det |
| 15 | water | water | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 ju | nsubj |
| 16 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 ju | compound |
| 17 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 18 ju | punct |
| 18 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 thanked | obj |
| 19 | for | for | ADP | _ | 21 kindness | case |
| 20 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 21 kindness | nmod:poss |
| 21 | kindness | kindness | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 ju | nmod |
| 22 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 23 swam | punct |
| 23 | swam | swim | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 waited | conj |
| 24 | off | off | ADP | _ | 23 swam | compound:prt |
| 25 | with | with | ADP | _ | 26 Ogor | case |
| 26 | Ogor | Ogor | PROPN | Number=Sing | 23 swam | obl |
| 27 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 29 took | punct |
| 28 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 29 took | cc |
| 29 | took | take | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 waited | conj |
| 30 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 29 took | obj |
| 31 | to | to | ADP | _ | 35 house | case |
| 32 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 33 mother | nmod:poss |
| 33 | mother | mother | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 house | nmod:poss |
| 34 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 33 mother | case |
| 35 | house | house | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 took | obl |
| 36 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 37 taking | punct |
| 37 | taking | take | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 29 took | advcl |
| 38 | care | care | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 taking | obj |
| 39 | to | to | PART | _ | 40 go | mark |
| 40 | go | go | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 37 taking | xcomp |
| 41 | by | by | ADP | _ | 44 way | case |
| 42 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 44 way | det |
| 43 | back | back | NOUN | Number=Sing | 44 way | compound |
| 44 | way | way | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 go | obl |
| 45 | so | so | SCONJ | ExtPos=SCONJ | 50 see | mark |
| 46 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 45 so | fixed |
| 47 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 48 one | det |
| 48 | one | one | NOUN | Number=Sing | 50 see | nsubj |
| 49 | should | should | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 50 see | aux |
| 50 | see | see | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 40 go | advcl |
| 51 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 50 see | obj |
| 52 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 waited | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | wait | past | the porcupine | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 2 | come | past | the evening | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 3 | thank speech: thank | gerund · perfect | the porcupine not said here | then | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 4 | ju | water | for water's kindness | tree rules | |||||
| 5 | swim off | past | the porcupine not said here | with Ogor | vn swarm-47.5.1-1 «PP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location with ogor=Theme | ||||
| 6 | take | past | the porcupine not said here | water | water's mother's house | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent he=Theme to house=Destination | |||
| 7 | take | gerund | the porcupine not said here | care | vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP to be ADJ»: agent=Agent care=Theme clause=Attribute | ||||
| 8 | go | to-infinitive | the porcupine not said here | by the back way | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme by way=Location | ||||
| 9 | see | should | no one | houses = house | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer they=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/pg70959/7/134/