Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 53

In the olden days when “might was right,” these children were taken by the husband, who kept them by the “strong hand” if he were sufficiently powerful; but there is a growing feeling amongst the younger chiefs and the more intelligent trading classes that the children born before marriage should be given to the father when they are weaned.

Who acts: husband, growing feeling · What happens: be, take, keep, grow, bear, give · To what, where: children

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 (husband, growing feeling), 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	_	4 days	case
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 days	det
3	olden	olden	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 days	amod
4	days	day	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 taken	obl
5	when	when	SCONJ	_	9 right	mark
6	“	"	PUNCT	_	9 right	punct
7	might	might	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	9 right	aux
8	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 right	cop
9	right	right	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 days	advcl
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 days	punct
11	”	"	PUNCT	_	4 days	punct
12	these	this	DET	Number=Plur PronType=Dem	13 children	det
13	children	child	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 taken	nsubj:pass
14	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	15 taken	aux:pass
15	taken	take	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
16	by	by	ADP	_	18 husband	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 husband	det
18	husband	husband	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 taken	obl
19	,	,	PUNCT	_	21 kept	punct
20	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	21 kept	nsubj
21	kept	keep	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	15 taken	conj
22	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	21 kept	obj
23	by	by	ADP	_	27 hand	case
24	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	27 hand	det
25	“	"	PUNCT	_	27 hand	punct
26	strong	strong	ADJ	Degree=Pos	27 hand	amod
27	hand	hand	NOUN	Number=Sing	21 kept	obl
28	”	"	PUNCT	_	27 hand	punct
29	if	if	SCONJ	_	33 powerful	mark
30	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	33 powerful	nsubj
31	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	33 powerful	cop
32	sufficiently	sufficiently	ADV	_	33 powerful	advmod
33	powerful	powerful	ADJ	Degree=Pos	21 kept	advcl
34	;	;	PUNCT	_	37 is	punct
35	but	but	CCONJ	_	37 is	cc
36	there	there	PRON	PronType=Dem	37 is	expl
37	is	be	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	15 taken	conj
38	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	40 feeling	det
39	growing	grow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	40 feeling	amod
40	feeling	feeling	NOUN	Number=Sing	37 is	nsubj
41	amongst	amongst	ADP	_	44 chiefs	case
42	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	44 chiefs	det
43	younger	young	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	44 chiefs	amod
44	chiefs	chief	NOUN	Number=Plur	40 feeling	nmod
45	and	and	CCONJ	_	50 classes	cc
46	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	50 classes	det
47	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	48 intelligent	advmod
48	intelligent	intelligent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	50 classes	amod
49	trading	trading	NOUN	Number=Sing	50 classes	compound
50	classes	class	NOUN	Number=Plur	44 chiefs	conj
51	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	59 given	obj
52	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	53 children	det
53	children	child	NOUN	Number=Plur	59 given	nsubj:pass
54	born	bear	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	53 children	acl
55	before	before	ADP	_	56 marriage	case
56	marriage	marriage	NOUN	Number=Sing	54 born	obl
57	should	should	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	59 given	aux
58	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	59 given	aux:pass
59	given	give	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	50 classes	acl:relcl
60	to	to	ADP	_	62 father	case
61	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	62 father	det
62	father	father	NOUN	Number=Sing	59 given	obl
63	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	66 weaned	advmod
64	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	66 weaned	nsubj
65	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	66 weaned	aux:pass
66	weaned	wean	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	59 given	advcl
67	.	.	PUNCT	_	15 taken	punct

Pragmatics

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is in a quote	might	the husband not said here				right property	tree rules
2	take	past · passive	the husband	this children		day		vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument subject=Destination
3	keep	past		children = child			by the strong hand; who nsubj	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent they=Theme by hand=Location
4	is a condition, not said to happen	past	husband				powerful, sufficiently property	tree rules
5	be	present	a growing feeling amongst the younger chiefs and the intelligent trading classes		there			vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
6	grow	gerund						vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
7	bear	participle		the children not said here		before marriage		vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer
8	give	should · passive		the children			to the father; the intelligent trading classes obj	vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Recipient that=Theme
9	wean	present · passive		children = child				vn free-10.6.3 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Source

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/pg70959/1/53/

🌲 Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 53

The tree

Pragmatics

Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 53