Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 54
It will be observed on perusing some of these stories that in several of them the greater part of the tale has nothing, apparently, to do with the main object, which frequently might be dismissed in a few sentences.
What happens: observe, peruse, have, do, dismiss · To what, where: dowry, some, that, greater part, main object, few sentences
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: 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 | 4 observed | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | will | will | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 4 observed | aux |
| 3 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 4 observed | aux:pass |
| 4 | observed | observe | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 5 | on | on | SCONJ | _ | 6 perusing | mark |
| 6 | perusing | peruse | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 4 observed | advcl |
| 7 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 6 perusing | obj |
| 8 | of | of | ADP | _ | 10 stories | case |
| 9 | these | this | DET | Number=Plur PronType=Dem | 10 stories | det |
| 10 | stories | story | NOUN | Number=Plur | 7 some | nmod |
| 11 | that | that | PRON | PronType=Rel | 22 has | obj |
| 12 | in | in | ADP | _ | 18 part | case |
| 13 | several | several | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 18 part | nsubj |
| 14 | of | of | ADP | _ | 15 them | case |
| 15 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 13 several | nmod |
| 16 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 18 part | det |
| 17 | greater | great | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 18 part | amod |
| 18 | part | part | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 has | obl |
| 19 | of | of | ADP | _ | 21 tale | case |
| 20 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 21 tale | det |
| 21 | tale | tale | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 part | nmod |
| 22 | has | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 10 stories | parataxis |
| 23 | nothing | nothing | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Neg | 22 has | obj |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 28 do | punct |
| 25 | apparently | apparently | ADV | _ | 28 do | advmod |
| 26 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 28 do | punct |
| 27 | to | to | PART | _ | 28 do | mark |
| 28 | do | do | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 23 nothing | acl:relcl |
| 29 | with | with | ADP | _ | 32 object | case |
| 30 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 32 object | det |
| 31 | main | main | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 32 object | amod |
| 32 | object | object | NOUN | Number=Sing | 28 do | obl |
| 33 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 38 dismissed | punct |
| 34 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 38 dismissed | nsubj:pass |
| 35 | frequently | frequently | ADV | _ | 38 dismissed | advmod |
| 36 | might | might | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 38 dismissed | aux |
| 37 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 38 dismissed | aux:pass |
| 38 | dismissed | dismiss | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 32 object | acl:relcl |
| 39 | in | in | ADP | _ | 42 sentences | case |
| 40 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 42 sentences | det |
| 41 | few | few | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 42 sentences | amod |
| 42 | sentences | sentence | NOUN | Number=Plur | 38 dismissed | obl |
| 43 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 observed | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | observe | future · passive | dowry | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic | |||||
| 2 | peruse | gerund | some of this stories | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent some=Theme | |||||
| 3 | have | present | that | the greater part of the tale | nothing obj | tree rules | |||
| 4 | do | to-infinitive | with the main object; apparently property | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 5 | dismiss | might · passive | the main object | a few sentences | frequently property | vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
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/pg70959/1/54/