Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Ix.--the Story of the War Between Inkum and Enfitop., sentence 81
Now, in those days there was a big snake who used to live on the land, and when he grew to be as long as a palm oil tree is high, he forsook the land and lived in the small creeks and rivers, where he grew to a tremendous size.
Who acts: big snake, snake, oil tree · What happens: be, use, live, grow, forsake · To what, where: land, small creeks
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 (big snake, snake, oil tree), 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 | Now | now | ADV | PronType=Dem | 7 was | advmod |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 Now | punct |
| 3 | in | in | ADP | _ | 5 days | case |
| 4 | those | that | DET | Number=Plur PronType=Dem | 5 days | det |
| 5 | days | day | NOUN | Number=Plur | 7 was | obl |
| 6 | there | there | PRON | PronType=Dem | 7 was | expl |
| 7 | was | be | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 8 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 10 snake | det |
| 9 | big | big | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 10 snake | amod |
| 10 | snake | snake | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 was | nsubj |
| 11 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 12 used | nsubj |
| 12 | used | use | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 10 snake | acl:relcl |
| 13 | to | to | PART | _ | 14 live | mark |
| 14 | live | live | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 12 used | xcomp |
| 15 | on | on | ADP | _ | 17 land | case |
| 16 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 17 land | det |
| 17 | land | land | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 live | obl |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 36 forsook | punct |
| 19 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 36 forsook | cc |
| 20 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 22 grew | advmod |
| 21 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 22 grew | nsubj |
| 22 | grew | grow | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 36 forsook | advcl |
| 23 | to | to | PART | _ | 26 long | mark |
| 24 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 26 long | cop |
| 25 | as | as | ADV | _ | 26 long | advmod |
| 26 | long | long | ADV | Degree=Pos | 22 grew | advmod |
| 27 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 33 high | mark |
| 28 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 31 tree | det |
| 29 | palm | palm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 oil | compound |
| 30 | oil | oil | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 tree | compound |
| 31 | tree | tree | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 high | nsubj |
| 32 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 33 high | cop |
| 33 | high | high | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 26 long | advcl |
| 34 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 22 grew | punct |
| 35 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 36 forsook | nsubj |
| 36 | forsook | forsake | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 was | parataxis |
| 37 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 38 land | det |
| 38 | land | land | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 forsook | obj |
| 39 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 40 lived | cc |
| 40 | lived | live | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 36 forsook | conj |
| 41 | in | in | ADP | _ | 44 creeks | case |
| 42 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 44 creeks | det |
| 43 | small | small | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 44 creeks | amod |
| 44 | creeks | creek | NOUN | Number=Plur | 40 lived | obl |
| 45 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 46 rivers | cc |
| 46 | rivers | river | NOUN | Number=Plur | 44 creeks | conj |
| 47 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 50 grew | punct |
| 48 | where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 50 grew | advmod |
| 49 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 50 grew | nsubj |
| 50 | grew | grow | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 44 creeks | conj |
| 51 | to | to | ADP | _ | 54 size | case |
| 52 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 54 size | det |
| 53 | tremendous | tremendous | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 54 size | amod |
| 54 | size | size | NOUN | Number=Sing | 50 grew | obl |
| 55 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 7 was | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | be | past | a big snake | there | now; day | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||
| 2 | use | past | a big snake | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | |||||
| 3 | live | to-infinitive | a big snake not said here | the land | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on land=Location | ||||
| 4 | grow | past | snake | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 5 | is | to-infinitive | long property | tree rules | |||||
| 6 | is | present | a oil tree | high property | tree rules | ||||
| 7 | forsake | past | snake | the land | tree rules | ||||
| 8 | live | past | snake not said here | the small creeks and rivers | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in creek=Location | ||||
| 9 | grow | past | snake | to a tremendous size | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
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/pg70959/7/81/