Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xi.--how a Father Tried to Kill One of His Sons But Failed., sentence 43
He was fortunate in pinning the crocodile to the ground and very soon it showed its head through the leaves, whereupon the boy threw the noose round its jaws and made it fast to a tree.
Who acts: Agberamfe, ground, boy · What happens: be, pin, show, throw, make · To what, where: crocodile, head, leaves, noose
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 (Agberamfe, ground, boy), 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 | He | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 fortunate | nsubj |
| 2 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 fortunate | cop |
| 3 | fortunate | fortunate | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 4 | in | in | SCONJ | _ | 5 pinning | mark |
| 5 | pinning | pin | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 3 fortunate | advcl |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 crocodile | det |
| 7 | crocodile | crocodile | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 pinning | obj |
| 8 | to | to | ADP | _ | 10 ground | case |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 ground | det |
| 10 | ground | ground | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 pinning | obl |
| 11 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 15 showed | cc |
| 12 | very | very | ADV | _ | 13 soon | advmod |
| 13 | soon | soon | ADV | Degree=Pos | 15 showed | advmod |
| 14 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 15 showed | nsubj |
| 15 | showed | show | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 fortunate | conj |
| 16 | its | its | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 17 head | nmod:poss |
| 17 | head | head | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 showed | obj |
| 18 | through | through | ADP | _ | 20 leaves | case |
| 19 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 leaves | det |
| 20 | leaves | leaf | NOUN | Number=Plur | 15 showed | obl |
| 21 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 25 threw | punct |
| 22 | whereupon | whereupon | ADV | PronType=Int | 25 threw | advmod |
| 23 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 24 boy | det |
| 24 | boy | boy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 threw | nsubj |
| 25 | threw | throw | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 fortunate | parataxis |
| 26 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 27 noose | det |
| 27 | noose | noose | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 threw | obj |
| 28 | round | round | ADP | _ | 30 jaws | case |
| 29 | its | its | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 30 jaws | nmod:poss |
| 30 | jaws | jaw | NOUN | Number=Plur | 25 threw | obl |
| 31 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 32 made | cc |
| 32 | made | make | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 25 threw | conj |
| 33 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 32 made | obj |
| 34 | fast | fast | ADV | Degree=Pos | 32 made | advmod |
| 35 | to | to | ADP | _ | 37 tree | case |
| 36 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 37 tree | det |
| 37 | tree | tree | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 made | obl |
| 38 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 fortunate | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | Agberamfe | fortunate property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | pin | gerund | Agberamfe not said here | the crocodile | to the ground | vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent crocodile=Patient to ground=Co-Patient | |||
| 3 | show | past | ground | ground's head | the leaves | soon property | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent head=Recipient | ||
| 4 | throw | past | the boy | the noose | round ground's jaws; whereupon property | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent noose=Theme | |||
| 5 | make | past | the boy not said here | noose | to a tree; fast property | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset it=Product |
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.
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