Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 51

It is therefore often somewhat difficult to distinguish the difference between the dowry paid for a girl on her marriage and the price which was formerly paid for a slave, seeing that the inclinations of the girl are not consulted and she has absolutely no say in the matter of a choice of husband.

Who acts: dowry, girl, choice · What happens: be, distinguish, pay, see, not consult, have · To what, where: difference, marriage, price, inclinations, say, matter

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 (dowry, girl, choice), 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	6 difficult	expl
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 difficult	cop
3	therefore	therefore	ADV	_	6 difficult	advmod
4	often	often	ADV	_	6 difficult	advmod
5	somewhat	somewhat	ADV	_	6 difficult	advmod
6	difficult	difficult	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
7	to	to	PART	_	8 distinguish	mark
8	distinguish	distinguish	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 difficult	csubj
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 difference	det
10	difference	difference	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 distinguish	obj
11	between	between	ADP	_	14 paid	mark
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 dowry	det
13	dowry	dowry	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 paid	nsubj
14	paid	pay	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 difference	acl
15	for	for	ADP	_	17 girl	case
16	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	17 girl	det
17	girl	girl	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 paid	obl
18	on	on	ADP	_	20 marriage	case
19	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	20 marriage	nmod:poss
20	marriage	marriage	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 paid	obl
21	and	and	CCONJ	_	23 price	cc
22	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	23 price	det
23	price	price	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 marriage	conj
24	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	27 paid	nsubj:pass
25	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	27 paid	aux:pass
26	formerly	formerly	ADV	_	27 paid	advmod
27	paid	pay	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	23 price	acl:relcl
28	for	for	ADP	_	30 slave	case
29	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	30 slave	det
30	slave	slave	NOUN	Number=Sing	27 paid	obl
31	,	,	PUNCT	_	32 seeing	punct
32	seeing	see	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	14 paid	advcl
33	that	that	SCONJ	_	41 consulted	mark
34	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	35 inclinations	det
35	inclinations	inclination	NOUN	Number=Plur	41 consulted	nsubj:pass
36	of	of	ADP	_	38 girl	case
37	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	38 girl	det
38	girl	girl	NOUN	Number=Sing	35 inclinations	nmod
39	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	41 consulted	aux:pass
40	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	41 consulted	advmod
41	consulted	consult	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	32 seeing	advcl
42	and	and	CCONJ	_	44 has	cc
43	she	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	44 has	nsubj
44	has	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	14 paid	conj
45	absolutely	absolutely	ADV	_	47 say	advmod
46	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	47 say	det
47	say	say	NOUN	Number=Sing	44 has	obj
48	in	in	ADP	_	50 matter	case
49	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	50 matter	det
50	matter	matter	NOUN	Number=Sing	47 say	nmod
51	of	of	ADP	_	53 choice	case
52	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	53 choice	det
53	choice	choice	NOUN	Number=Sing	50 matter	nmod
54	of	of	ADP	_	55 husband	case
55	husband	husband	NOUN	Number=Sing	53 choice	nmod
56	.	.	PUNCT	_	6 difficult	punct

Pragmatics

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	is	present				difficult, often, somewhat, therefore property	tree rules
2	distinguish	to-infinitive		the difference			vn distinguish-23.5-1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Attribute difference=Theme
3	pay	past	the dowry	the difference not said here	girl's marriage and the price	for a girl	vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent difference=Asset for girl=Theme
4	pay	past · passive		the price		for a slave; formerly property	vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Asset for slave=Theme
5	see	gerund	the dowry not said here				vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer
6	not consult	present · passive		the inclinations of the girl			vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
7	have	present	girl	no say	the matter of a choice of husband		vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent say=Patient
8	marry		girl				nom marriage «state transitive»: poss=agent
9	incline		the girl				nom inclination «cognition intransitive»: of=agent
10	matter		a choice of husband				nom matter «cognition 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/pg70959/1/51/

🌲 Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 51

The tree

Pragmatics

Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 51