Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 46
This conflict of opinion is not difficult to follow, as the young men are generally the fathers of the children born before marriage, and the old chiefs who are wealthy are generally the husbands, and both the putative fathers and the lawful husbands are anxious to possess the children.
Who acts: conflict, young men, old chiefs, both, putative fathers, opinion · What happens: not be, follow, be, bear, father, possess · To what, where: children, husbands
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 (conflict, young men, old chiefs, both), 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 | This | this | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 2 conflict | det |
| 2 | conflict | conflict | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 difficult | nsubj |
| 3 | of | of | ADP | _ | 4 opinion | case |
| 4 | opinion | opinion | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 conflict | nmod |
| 5 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 7 difficult | cop |
| 6 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 7 difficult | advmod |
| 7 | difficult | difficult | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 8 | to | to | PART | _ | 9 follow | mark |
| 9 | follow | follow | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 7 difficult | csubj |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 18 fathers | punct |
| 11 | as | as | ADP | _ | 18 fathers | case |
| 12 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 men | det |
| 13 | young | young | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 14 men | amod |
| 14 | men | man | NOUN | Number=Plur | 18 fathers | nsubj |
| 15 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 18 fathers | cop |
| 16 | generally | generally | ADV | _ | 18 fathers | advmod |
| 17 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 18 fathers | det |
| 18 | fathers | father | NOUN | Number=Plur | 9 follow | obl |
| 19 | of | of | ADP | _ | 21 children | case |
| 20 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 21 children | det |
| 21 | children | child | NOUN | Number=Plur | 18 fathers | nmod |
| 22 | born | bear | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 21 children | acl |
| 23 | before | before | ADP | _ | 24 marriage | case |
| 24 | marriage | marriage | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 born | obl |
| 25 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 36 husbands | punct |
| 26 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 36 husbands | cc |
| 27 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 29 chiefs | det |
| 28 | old | old | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 29 chiefs | amod |
| 29 | chiefs | chief | NOUN | Number=Plur | 36 husbands | nsubj |
| 30 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 32 wealthy | nsubj |
| 31 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 32 wealthy | cop |
| 32 | wealthy | wealthy | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 29 chiefs | acl:relcl |
| 33 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 36 husbands | cop |
| 34 | generally | generally | ADV | _ | 36 husbands | advmod |
| 35 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 36 husbands | det |
| 36 | husbands | husband | NOUN | Number=Plur | 7 difficult | obl |
| 37 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 48 anxious | punct |
| 38 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 48 anxious | cc |
| 39 | both | both | DET | PronType=Tot | 42 fathers | nsubj |
| 40 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 42 fathers | det |
| 41 | putative | putative | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 42 fathers | amod |
| 42 | fathers | father | NOUN | Number=Plur | 48 anxious | nsubj |
| 43 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 46 husbands | cc |
| 44 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 46 husbands | det |
| 45 | lawful | lawful | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 46 husbands | amod |
| 46 | husbands | husband | NOUN | Number=Plur | 42 fathers | conj |
| 47 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 48 anxious | cop |
| 48 | anxious | anxious | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 difficult | conj |
| 49 | to | to | PART | _ | 50 possess | mark |
| 50 | possess | possess | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 48 anxious | csubj |
| 51 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 52 children | det |
| 52 | children | child | NOUN | Number=Plur | 50 possess | obj |
| 53 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 7 difficult | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not is | present | this conflict of opinion | difficult property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | follow | to-infinitive | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||||
| 3 | is | present | the young men | as the fathers; of the children; generally property | tree rules | ||||
| 4 | bear | participle | the children not said here | before marriage | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer | ||||
| 5 | is | present | the old chiefs | wealthy property | tree rules | ||||
| 6 | is a | present | the old chiefs | the husbands | generally property | tree rules | |||
| 7 | father | both | the lawful husbands conj | tree rules | |||||
| 8 | is | present | the putative fathers and the lawful husbands | anxious property | tree rules | ||||
| 9 | possess | to-infinitive | the children | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot child=Theme | |||||
| 10 | conflict | opinion | nom conflict «act intransitive»: of=agent |
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/pg70959/1/46/