Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 23
In most of the Cross River towns above Abaragba there is no restriction placed on young girls as to sexual intercourse, but when they are married twenty-five pieces of cloth (value 5s. per piece) would be paid as damages for adultery.
What happens: place, marry, be, pay · To what, where: restriction, customs, married five pieces
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: 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 | _ | 2 most | case |
| 2 | most | most | ADJ | Degree=Sup | 11 is | obl |
| 3 | of | of | ADP | _ | 7 towns | case |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 towns | det |
| 5 | Cross | Cross | PROPN | Number=Sing | 6 River | compound |
| 6 | River | River | PROPN | Number=Sing | 7 towns | compound |
| 7 | towns | town | NOUN | Number=Plur | 2 most | nmod |
| 8 | above | above | ADP | _ | 9 Abaragba | case |
| 9 | Abaragba | Abaragba | PROPN | Number=Sing | 7 towns | nmod |
| 10 | there | there | PRON | PronType=Dem | 11 is | expl |
| 11 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 31 pieces | cop |
| 12 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 13 restriction | det |
| 13 | restriction | restriction | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 is | nsubj |
| 14 | placed | place | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 13 restriction | acl |
| 15 | on | on | ADP | _ | 17 girls | case |
| 16 | young | young | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 17 girls | amod |
| 17 | girls | girl | NOUN | Number=Plur | 14 placed | obl |
| 18 | as | as | ADP | ExtPos=ADP | 21 intercourse | case |
| 19 | to | to | ADP | _ | 18 as | fixed |
| 20 | sexual | sexual | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 21 intercourse | amod |
| 21 | intercourse | intercourse | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 placed | obl |
| 22 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 31 pieces | punct |
| 23 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 31 pieces | cc |
| 24 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 27 married | advmod |
| 25 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 27 married | nsubj:pass |
| 26 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 27 married | aux:pass |
| 27 | married | marry | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 31 pieces | amod |
| 28 | twenty | twenty | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 30 five | compound |
| 29 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 28 twenty | punct |
| 30 | five | five | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 31 pieces | nummod |
| 31 | pieces | piece | NOUN | Number=Plur | 43 paid | nsubj:pass |
| 32 | of | of | ADP | _ | 33 cloth | case |
| 33 | cloth | cloth | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 pieces | nmod |
| 34 | ( | ( | PUNCT | _ | 36 5s | punct |
| 35 | value | value | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 5s | compound |
| 36 | 5s | 5 | NOUN | Number=Ptan NumForm=Combi NumType=Card | 31 pieces | conj |
| 37 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 31 pieces | punct |
| 38 | per | per | ADP | _ | 39 piece | case |
| 39 | piece | piece | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 pieces | nmod |
| 40 | ) | ) | PUNCT | _ | 31 pieces | punct |
| 41 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 43 paid | aux |
| 42 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 43 paid | aux:pass |
| 43 | paid | pay | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 44 | as | as | ADP | _ | 45 damages | case |
| 45 | damages | damage | NOUN | Number=Plur | 43 paid | obl |
| 46 | for | for | ADP | _ | 47 adultery | case |
| 47 | adultery | adultery | NOUN | Number=Sing | 43 paid | obl |
| 48 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 43 paid | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | place | participle | no restriction not said here | on young girls; as sexual intercourse | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent on girl=Destination | ||||
| 2 | marry | present · passive | customs = custom | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient | |||||
| 3 | is a | present | married five pieces and value 5s | of cloth; per piece; value 5s conj | tree rules | ||||
| 4 | pay | would · passive | married five pieces and value 5s | as damages; for adultery | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Asset for adultery=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: «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/pg70959/1/23/