Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 25
It may be of interest to the reader to state here briefly the usual form of marriage in vogue in this district as the point of several of the tales turns on the position of the woman with reference to her husband or lover.
Who acts: adultery · What happens: be, state, turn, form · To what, where: usual form, district, position, marriage
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 (adultery), 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 | It | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 interest | nsubj |
| 2 | may | may | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 5 interest | aux |
| 3 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 5 interest | cop |
| 4 | of | of | ADP | _ | 5 interest | case |
| 5 | interest | interest | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 6 | to | to | ADP | _ | 8 reader | case |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 reader | det |
| 8 | reader | reader | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 interest | nmod |
| 9 | to | to | PART | _ | 10 state | mark |
| 10 | state | state | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 31 turns | advcl |
| 11 | here | here | ADV | PronType=Dem | 10 state | advmod |
| 12 | briefly | briefly | ADV | _ | 15 form | advmod |
| 13 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 15 form | det |
| 14 | usual | usual | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 15 form | amod |
| 15 | form | form | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 state | obl |
| 16 | of | of | ADP | _ | 17 marriage | case |
| 17 | marriage | marriage | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 form | nmod |
| 18 | in | in | ADP | _ | 19 vogue | case |
| 19 | vogue | vogue | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 marriage | nmod |
| 20 | in | in | ADP | _ | 22 district | case |
| 21 | this | this | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 22 district | det |
| 22 | district | district | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 state | obl |
| 23 | as | as | ADP | _ | 25 point | case |
| 24 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 25 point | det |
| 25 | point | point | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 turns | obl |
| 26 | of | of | ADP | _ | 27 several | case |
| 27 | several | several | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 25 point | nmod |
| 28 | of | of | ADP | _ | 30 tales | case |
| 29 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 30 tales | det |
| 30 | tales | tale | NOUN | Number=Plur | 27 several | obl |
| 31 | turns | turn | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 interest | parataxis |
| 32 | on | on | ADP | _ | 34 position | case |
| 33 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 34 position | det |
| 34 | position | position | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 turns | obl |
| 35 | of | of | ADP | _ | 37 woman | case |
| 36 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 37 woman | det |
| 37 | woman | woman | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 position | nmod |
| 38 | with | with | ADP | _ | 39 reference | case |
| 39 | reference | reference | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 woman | nmod |
| 40 | to | to | ADP | _ | 42 husband | case |
| 41 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 42 husband | nmod:poss |
| 42 | husband | husband | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 turns | obl |
| 43 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 44 lover | cc |
| 44 | lover | lover | NOUN | Number=Sing | 42 husband | conj |
| 45 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 interest | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | may | adultery | of interest; to the reader | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | state speech: other | to-infinitive | the usual form of marriage in vogue | this district; here | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 3 | turn | present | the position of the woman with reference | as the point of several of the tales; to woman's husband or lover | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme on position=Trajectory | ||||
| 4 | form | marriage in vogue | nom form «communication 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/pg70959/1/25/