Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 15
In the introduction to my _Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria_, published in 1910, Mr. Andrew Lang suggests that the term “bride-price” would better express the institution, and, no doubt, he is perfectly right.
Who acts: Andrew, term, doubt · What happens: publish, suggest, express, be · To what, where: Southern Nigeria, 1910, introduction, institution
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 (Andrew, term, doubt), 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 | In | in | ADP | _ | 3 introduction | case |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 introduction | det |
| 3 | introduction | introduction | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 suggests | obl |
| 4 | to | to | ADP | _ | 8 Stories | case |
| 5 | my | my | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 8 Stories | nmod:poss |
| 6 | _ | _ | PUNCT | _ | 8 Stories | punct |
| 7 | Folk | folk | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 Stories | compound |
| 8 | Stories | story | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 introduction | nmod |
| 9 | from | from | ADP | _ | 11 Nigeria | case |
| 10 | Southern | Southern | PROPN | _ | 11 Nigeria | flat |
| 11 | Nigeria | Nigeria | PROPN | Number=Sing | 8 Stories | nmod |
| 12 | _ | _ | PUNCT | _ | 11 Nigeria | punct |
| 13 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 14 published | punct |
| 14 | published | publish | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 11 Nigeria | acl |
| 15 | in | in | ADP | _ | 16 1910 | case |
| 16 | 1910 | 1910 | NUM | NumForm=Digit NumType=Card | 14 published | obl |
| 17 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 3 introduction | punct |
| 18 | Mr. | Mr. | PROPN | Number=Sing | 19 Andrew | nmod:desc |
| 19 | Andrew | Andrew | PROPN | Number=Sing | 21 suggests | nsubj |
| 20 | Lang | Lang | PROPN | Number=Sing | 19 Andrew | flat |
| 21 | suggests | suggest | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 22 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 32 express | mark |
| 23 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 24 term | det |
| 24 | term | term | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 express | nsubj |
| 25 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 28 price | punct |
| 26 | bride | bride | NOUN | Number=Sing | 28 price | compound |
| 27 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 26 bride | punct |
| 28 | price | price | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 term | appos |
| 29 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 28 price | punct |
| 30 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 32 express | aux |
| 31 | better | well | ADV | Degree=Cmp | 32 express | advmod |
| 32 | express | express | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 21 suggests | advcl |
| 33 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 34 institution | det |
| 34 | institution | institution | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 express | obj |
| 35 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 44 right | punct |
| 36 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 44 right | cc |
| 37 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 39 doubt | punct |
| 38 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 39 doubt | det |
| 39 | doubt | doubt | NOUN | Number=Sing | 44 right | nsubj |
| 40 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 39 doubt | punct |
| 41 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 44 right | nsubj |
| 42 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 44 right | cop |
| 43 | perfectly | perfectly | ADV | _ | 44 right | advmod |
| 44 | right | right | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 21 suggests | conj |
| 45 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 21 suggests | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | publish | participle | Southern Nigeria not said here | 1910 | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 2 | suggest speech: suggest | present | Andrew Mr. | the introduction to my Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria | vn say-37.7-1-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 3 | express | would | the term | the institution | well property | vn reflexive_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent institution=Theme | |||
| 4 | is | present | no doubt | term nsubj; perfectly, right property | tree rules |
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/pg70959/1/15/