Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons But Failed., sentence 36
When they returned they were to place eight bundles of the leaves in a row along the road, and they were then to put the crocodile on the ground and cover him up with leaves for the ninth bundle.
Who acts: mats · What happens: return, be, put, cover up · To what, where: crocodile, ground
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons But Failed.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (mats), 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 | When | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 3 returned | advmod |
| 2 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 returned | nsubj |
| 3 | returned | return | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 25 put | advcl |
| 4 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 7 place | nsubj |
| 5 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 place | cop |
| 6 | to | to | ADP | _ | 7 place | case |
| 7 | place | place | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 returned | ccomp |
| 8 | eight | eight | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 9 bundles | nummod |
| 9 | bundles | bundle | NOUN | Number=Plur | 7 place | conj |
| 10 | of | of | ADP | _ | 12 leaves | case |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 leaves | det |
| 12 | leaves | leaf | NOUN | Number=Plur | 9 bundles | nmod |
| 13 | in | in | ADP | _ | 15 row | case |
| 14 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 15 row | det |
| 15 | row | row | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 leaves | nmod |
| 16 | along | along | ADP | _ | 18 road | case |
| 17 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 18 road | det |
| 18 | road | road | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 row | nmod |
| 19 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 3 returned | punct |
| 20 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 25 put | cc |
| 21 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 25 put | nsubj |
| 22 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 25 put | aux |
| 23 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 25 put | advmod |
| 24 | to | to | PART | _ | 25 put | mark |
| 25 | put | put | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 26 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 27 crocodile | det |
| 27 | crocodile | crocodile | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 put | obj |
| 28 | on | on | ADP | _ | 30 ground | case |
| 29 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 30 ground | det |
| 30 | ground | ground | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 put | obl |
| 31 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 32 cover | cc |
| 32 | cover | cover | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 25 put | conj |
| 33 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 32 cover | obj |
| 34 | up | up | ADP | _ | 32 cover | compound:prt |
| 35 | with | with | ADP | _ | 36 leaves | case |
| 36 | leaves | leaf | NOUN | Number=Plur | 32 cover | obl |
| 37 | for | for | ADP | _ | 40 bundle | case |
| 38 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 40 bundle | det |
| 39 | ninth | ninth | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 40 bundle | amod |
| 40 | bundle | bundle | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 cover | obl |
| 41 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 25 put | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | return | past | mats = mat | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 2 | is | past | mats = mat | to place and eight bundles of the leaves in a row along the road; eight bundles of the leaves in a row along the road conj | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | put | past | mats = mat | the crocodile | the ground | then | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent crocodile=Theme on ground=Destination | ||
| 4 | cover up | infinitive | mats = mat not said here | crocodile | with leaves; for the ninth bundle | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent he=Destination with leaf=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/pg70959/8/36/