Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 17
When a man is asked how much “dowry” he paid for his wife, he will frequently produce his “bush book,” consisting of bundles of small sticks tied round with “tie-tie,” one bundle for each year.
Who acts: man · What happens: ask, pay, produce, consist, tie · To what, where: man, bush book, small sticks
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 (man), 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 | When | when | SCONJ | _ | 5 asked | mark |
| 2 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 man | det |
| 3 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 asked | nsubj |
| 4 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 asked | aux:pass |
| 5 | asked | ask | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 20 produce | advcl |
| 6 | how | how | ADV | PronType=Int | 7 much | advmod |
| 7 | much | much | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 9 dowry | amod |
| 8 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 9 dowry | punct |
| 9 | dowry | dowry | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 asked | ccomp |
| 10 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 9 dowry | punct |
| 11 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 12 paid | nsubj |
| 12 | paid | pay | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 asked | conj |
| 13 | for | for | ADP | _ | 15 wife | case |
| 14 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 15 wife | nmod:poss |
| 15 | wife | wife | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 paid | obl |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 5 asked | punct |
| 17 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 20 produce | nsubj |
| 18 | will | will | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 20 produce | aux |
| 19 | frequently | frequently | ADV | _ | 20 produce | advmod |
| 20 | produce | produce | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 21 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 24 book | nmod:poss |
| 22 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 24 book | punct |
| 23 | bush | bush | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 book | compound |
| 24 | book | book | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 produce | obj |
| 25 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 27 consisting | punct |
| 26 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 27 consisting | punct |
| 27 | consisting | consist | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 20 produce | advcl |
| 28 | of | of | ADP | _ | 29 bundles | case |
| 29 | bundles | bundle | NOUN | Number=Plur | 27 consisting | obl |
| 30 | of | of | ADP | _ | 32 sticks | case |
| 31 | small | small | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 32 sticks | amod |
| 32 | sticks | stick | NOUN | Number=Plur | 29 bundles | nmod |
| 33 | tied | tie | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 32 sticks | acl |
| 34 | round | round | ADV | _ | 33 tied | advmod |
| 35 | with | with | ADP | _ | 39 tie | case |
| 36 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 39 tie | punct |
| 37 | tie | tie | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 tie | compound |
| 38 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 37 tie | punct |
| 39 | tie | tie | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 tied | obl |
| 40 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 27 consisting | punct |
| 41 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 20 produce | punct |
| 42 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 43 bundle | nummod |
| 43 | bundle | bundle | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 produce | parataxis |
| 44 | for | for | ADP | _ | 46 year | case |
| 45 | each | each | DET | PronType=Tot | 46 year | det |
| 46 | year | year | NOUN | Number=Sing | 43 bundle | nmod |
| 47 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 20 produce | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ask speech: ask | present · passive | a man | much dowry ccomp | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient | ||||
| 2 | pay | past | man | for man's wife | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent for wife=Theme | ||||
| 3 | produce | future | man | man's bush book | one bundle for each year parataxis; frequently property | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent book=Result | |||
| 4 | consist | gerund | man not said here | of bundles of small sticks | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | tie | participle | small sticks not said here | with tie tie; round property | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V ADVP-Middle PP»: agent=Patient with tie=Co-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/pg70959/1/17/