Ojibwa myths and tales, Ne-we-no-nah K’she Mŭh., sentence 21
The boys came to a big river and saw a big snail which they asked to take them across the river.
Who acts: boys, children, big snail · What happens: come, see, ask, take · To what, where: big river, big snail, children, river
This is a sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, Ne-we-no-nah K’she Mŭh.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (boys, children, big snail), 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 boys | det |
| 2 | boys | boy | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 came | nsubj |
| 3 | came | come | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | to | to | ADP | _ | 7 river | case |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 7 river | det |
| 6 | big | big | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 river | amod |
| 7 | river | river | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 came | obl |
| 8 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 9 saw | cc |
| 9 | saw | see | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 came | conj |
| 10 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 12 snail | det |
| 11 | big | big | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 12 snail | amod |
| 12 | snail | snail | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 saw | obj |
| 13 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 15 asked | obj |
| 14 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 15 asked | nsubj |
| 15 | asked | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 12 snail | acl:relcl |
| 16 | to | to | PART | _ | 17 take | mark |
| 17 | take | take | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 15 asked | xcomp |
| 18 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 17 take | obj |
| 19 | across | across | ADP | _ | 21 river | case |
| 20 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 21 river | det |
| 21 | river | river | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 take | obl |
| 22 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 came | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | come | past | the boys | a big river | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to river=Initial_Location | ||||
| 2 | see | past | the boys not said here | a big snail | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer snail=Stimulus | ||||
| 3 | ask speech: ask | past | children = child | a big snail | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S_INF»: agent=Agent which=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 4 | take not said to happen | to-infinitive | a big snail not said here | children = child | the river | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=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: «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, Project Gutenberg book 76755 (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/pg76755/7/21/