Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 118
With reference to the eating of rats, it may be remarked that all the natives in the Ikom district eat the bush rat, which is quite different from the house or domestic species, but the Bassankwala people are the only natives the author has met who eat the “common or garden” house rat.
Who acts: natives, bush rat, Bassankwala people, author, rats · What happens: remark, eat, be, meet · To what, where: eating, bush rat, house, only natives, common
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 (natives, bush rat, Bassankwala people, author), 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 | With | with | ADP | _ | 2 reference | case |
| 2 | reference | reference | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 remarked | obl |
| 3 | to | to | ADP | _ | 5 eating | case |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 eating | det |
| 5 | eating | eating | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 reference | nmod |
| 6 | of | of | ADP | _ | 7 rats | case |
| 7 | rats | rat | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 eating | nmod |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 2 reference | punct |
| 9 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 12 remarked | nsubj:pass |
| 10 | may | may | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 12 remarked | aux |
| 11 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 12 remarked | aux:pass |
| 12 | remarked | remark | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 13 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 21 eat | mark |
| 14 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 16 natives | det:predet |
| 15 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 16 natives | det |
| 16 | natives | native | NOUN | Number=Plur | 21 eat | nsubj |
| 17 | in | in | ADP | _ | 20 district | case |
| 18 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 district | det |
| 19 | Ikom | Ikom | PROPN | Number=Sing | 20 district | compound |
| 20 | district | district | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 natives | nmod |
| 21 | eat | eat | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 12 remarked | advcl |
| 22 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 24 rat | det |
| 23 | bush | bush | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 rat | compound |
| 24 | rat | rat | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 eat | obj |
| 25 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 29 different | punct |
| 26 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 29 different | nsubj |
| 27 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 29 different | cop |
| 28 | quite | quite | ADV | _ | 29 different | advmod |
| 29 | different | different | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 24 rat | conj |
| 30 | from | from | ADP | _ | 32 house | case |
| 31 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 32 house | det |
| 32 | house | house | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 different | obl |
| 33 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 35 species | cc |
| 34 | domestic | domestic | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 35 species | amod |
| 35 | species | species | NOUN | Number=Plur | 32 house | conj |
| 36 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 44 natives | punct |
| 37 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 44 natives | cc |
| 38 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 40 people | det |
| 39 | Bassankwala | Bassankwala | PROPN | Number=Sing | 40 people | compound |
| 40 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 44 natives | nsubj |
| 41 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 44 natives | cop |
| 42 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 44 natives | det |
| 43 | only | only | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 44 natives | amod |
| 44 | natives | native | NOUN | Number=Plur | 48 met | obl |
| 45 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 46 author | det |
| 46 | author | author | NOUN | Number=Sing | 48 met | nsubj |
| 47 | has | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 48 met | aux |
| 48 | met | meet | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 12 remarked | advcl |
| 49 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 50 eat | nsubj |
| 50 | eat | eat | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 48 met | parataxis |
| 51 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 53 common | det |
| 52 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 53 common | punct |
| 53 | common | common | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 50 eat | obj |
| 54 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 55 garden | cc |
| 55 | garden | garden | NOUN | Number=Sing | 53 common | conj |
| 56 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 53 common | punct |
| 57 | house | house | NOUN | Number=Sing | 58 rat | compound |
| 58 | rat | rat | NOUN | Number=Sing | 53 common | conj |
| 59 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 12 remarked | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | remark speech: assert | may · passive | eating | with reference to the eating of rats | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic | ||||
| 2 | eat | present | all natives in the Ikom district | the bush rat | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rat=Patient | ||||
| 3 | is | present | the bush rat | the house or domestic species | different property | tree rules | |||
| 4 | is a | present | the Bassankwala people | the only natives | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | meet | present · perfect | the author | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 6 | eat | present | the common or garden and house rat | who nsubj | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent common=Patient | ||||
| 7 | eat | rats | nom eating «act intransitive»: of=agent |
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/pg70959/1/118/