Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 110
At the present time, rods are not used further north-east from Ikom than Umbaji, and in 1909, whilst on the Anglo-German Boundary Commission, he found that there was no form of native currency at Bassankwala, and no substitute therefore, with the possible exception of a few native forged iron hoes which found their way down from the north-west, and had a fixed marketable value.
Who acts: form, few native forged iron hoes · What happens: not use, find, be, forge, find down, have · To what, where: rods, 1909, way, north west, fixed marketable value, native currency · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Opening. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (form, few native forged iron hoes), 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 | At | at | ADP | _ | 4 time | case |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 time | det |
| 3 | present | present | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 time | amod |
| 4 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 used | obl |
| 5 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 4 time | punct |
| 6 | rods | rod | NOUN | Number=Plur | 9 used | nsubj:pass |
| 7 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 9 used | aux:pass |
| 8 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 9 used | advmod |
| 9 | used | use | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 10 | further | further | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 13 east | amod |
| 11 | north | north | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 east | compound |
| 12 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 11 north | punct |
| 13 | east | east | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 used | obj |
| 14 | from | from | ADP | _ | 15 Ikom | case |
| 15 | Ikom | Ikom | PROPN | Number=Sing | 13 east | nmod |
| 16 | than | than | ADP | _ | 17 Umbaji | case |
| 17 | Umbaji | Umbaji | PROPN | Number=Sing | 15 Ikom | nmod |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 21 1909 | punct |
| 19 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 21 1909 | cc |
| 20 | in | in | ADP | _ | 21 1909 | case |
| 21 | 1909 | 1909 | NUM | NumForm=Digit NumType=Card | 9 used | obl |
| 22 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 30 Commission | punct |
| 23 | whilst | whilst | SCONJ | _ | 30 Commission | mark |
| 24 | on | on | ADP | _ | 30 Commission | case |
| 25 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 30 Commission | det |
| 26 | Anglo | Anglo | X | _ | 28 German | compound |
| 27 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 26 Anglo | punct |
| 28 | German | German | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 30 Commission | amod |
| 29 | Boundary | Boundary | PROPN | Number=Sing | 30 Commission | compound |
| 30 | Commission | Commission | PROPN | Number=Sing | 9 used | obl |
| 31 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 33 found | punct |
| 32 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 33 found | nsubj |
| 33 | found | find | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 used | parataxis |
| 34 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 36 was | mark |
| 35 | there | there | PRON | PronType=Dem | 36 was | expl |
| 36 | was | be | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 33 found | ccomp |
| 37 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 38 form | det |
| 38 | form | form | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 was | nsubj |
| 39 | of | of | ADP | _ | 41 currency | case |
| 40 | native | native | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 41 currency | amod |
| 41 | currency | currency | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 form | nmod |
| 42 | at | at | ADP | _ | 43 Bassankwala | case |
| 43 | Bassankwala | Bassankwala | PROPN | Number=Sing | 41 currency | nmod |
| 44 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 47 substitute | punct |
| 45 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 47 substitute | cc |
| 46 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 47 substitute | det |
| 47 | substitute | substitute | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 used | parataxis |
| 48 | therefore | therefore | ADV | _ | 9 used | advmod |
| 49 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 53 exception | punct |
| 50 | with | with | ADP | _ | 53 exception | case |
| 51 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 53 exception | det |
| 52 | possible | possible | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 53 exception | amod |
| 53 | exception | exception | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 used | parataxis |
| 54 | of | of | ADP | _ | 60 hoes | case |
| 55 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 60 hoes | det |
| 56 | few | few | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 60 hoes | amod |
| 57 | native | native | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 60 hoes | amod |
| 58 | forged | forge | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 60 hoes | amod |
| 59 | iron | iron | NOUN | Number=Sing | 60 hoes | compound |
| 60 | hoes | hoe | NOUN | Number=Plur | 53 exception | nmod |
| 61 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 62 found | nsubj |
| 62 | found | find | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 60 hoes | acl:relcl |
| 63 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 64 way | nmod:poss |
| 64 | way | way | NOUN | Number=Sing | 62 found | obj |
| 65 | down | down | ADV | _ | 62 found | advmod |
| 66 | from | from | ADP | _ | 70 west | case |
| 67 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 70 west | det |
| 68 | north | north | NOUN | Number=Sing | 70 west | compound |
| 69 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 68 north | punct |
| 70 | west | west | NOUN | Number=Sing | 62 found | obl |
| 71 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 73 had | punct |
| 72 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 73 had | cc |
| 73 | had | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 62 found | conj |
| 74 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 77 value | det |
| 75 | fixed | fix | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 77 value | amod |
| 76 | marketable | marketable | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 77 value | amod |
| 77 | value | value | NOUN | Number=Sing | 73 had | obj |
| 78 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 9 used | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not use | present · passive | rods | 1909 | time | on the German Boundary Commission; further north east obj; no substitute parataxis; the possible exception of a few native forged iron hoes parataxis; therefore property | tree rules | ||
| 2 | find | past | form | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | |||||
| 3 | be | past | no form of native currency at Bassankwala | there | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 4 | forge | participle | vn build-26.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | ||||||
| 5 | find down | past | a few native forged iron hoes | rods's way | the north west | down property | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent way=Theme from west=Source | ||
| 6 | have | past | a few native forged iron hoes not said here | a fixed marketable value | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent value=Patient | ||||
| 7 | fix | participle | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient | ||||||
| 8 | form | native currency at Bassankwala | nom form «communication transitive»: of=patient | ||||||
| 9 | except | a few native forged iron hoes | nom exception «cognition transitive»: of=patient |
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/pg70959/1/110/