Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 39
When the parents heard the gun, they would go in and say: “There is your wife, we have handed her over to you.”
Who acts: parents, wife, we · What happens: hear, go in, say, be, hand over · To what, where: gun, wife · Speech: someone speaks here
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 (parents, wife, we), 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 | ADV | PronType=Int | 4 heard | advmod |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 parents | det |
| 3 | parents | parent | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 heard | nsubj |
| 4 | heard | hear | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 10 go | advcl |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 gun | det |
| 6 | gun | gun | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 heard | obj |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 4 heard | punct |
| 8 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 10 go | nsubj |
| 9 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 10 go | aux |
| 10 | go | go | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 11 | in | in | ADV | _ | 10 go | advmod |
| 12 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 13 say | cc |
| 13 | say | say | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 10 go | conj |
| 14 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 17 is | punct |
| 15 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 17 is | punct |
| 16 | There | there | PRON | PronType=Dem | 17 is | expl |
| 17 | is | be | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 13 say | ccomp |
| 18 | your | your | PRON | Case=Gen Person=2 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 19 wife | nmod:poss |
| 19 | wife | wife | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 is | nsubj |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 23 handed | punct |
| 21 | we | we | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 23 handed | nsubj |
| 22 | have | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 23 handed | aux |
| 23 | handed | hand | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 10 go | parataxis |
| 24 | her | she | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 23 handed | iobj |
| 25 | over | over | ADP | _ | 23 handed | compound:prt |
| 26 | to | to | ADP | _ | 27 you | case |
| 27 | you | you | PRON | Case=Acc Person=2 PronType=Prs | 23 handed | obl |
| 28 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 23 handed | punct |
| 29 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 10 go | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | hear | past | the parents | the gun | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer gun=Stimulus | ||||
| 2 | go in | would | parents = parent | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 3 | say speech: assert | infinitive | parents = parent not said here | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 4 | be in a quote | present | your wife | there | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 5 | hand over in a quote | present · perfect | we | wife | to you | vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent she=Theme to you=Destination |
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/pg70959/1/39/