Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 70
Although I have made a special study of witchcraft, ju-ju, and poison, and the various societies in this district for over nine years, I must confess that I understand and _know_ for certain very little about ju-ju.
Who acts: I · What happens: make, confess, understand, know, study · To what, where: special study, witchcraft
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 (I), 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 | Although | although | SCONJ | _ | 4 made | mark |
| 2 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 4 made | nsubj |
| 3 | have | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 made | aux |
| 4 | made | make | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 32 confess | advcl |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 7 study | det |
| 6 | special | special | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 study | amod |
| 7 | study | study | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 made | obj |
| 8 | of | of | ADP | _ | 9 witchcraft | case |
| 9 | witchcraft | witchcraft | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 study | nmod |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 13 ju | punct |
| 11 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 ju | compound |
| 12 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 11 ju | punct |
| 13 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 study | conj |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 16 poison | punct |
| 15 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 16 poison | cc |
| 16 | poison | poison | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 made | obl |
| 17 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 21 societies | punct |
| 18 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 21 societies | cc |
| 19 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 21 societies | det |
| 20 | various | various | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 21 societies | amod |
| 21 | societies | society | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 made | obl |
| 22 | in | in | ADP | _ | 24 district | case |
| 23 | this | this | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 24 district | det |
| 24 | district | district | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 societies | nmod |
| 25 | for | for | ADP | _ | 28 years | case |
| 26 | over | over | ADV | _ | 27 nine | advmod |
| 27 | nine | nine | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 28 years | nummod |
| 28 | years | year | NOUN | Number=Plur | 24 district | nmod |
| 29 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 4 made | punct |
| 30 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 32 confess | nsubj |
| 31 | must | must | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 32 confess | aux |
| 32 | confess | confess | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 33 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 35 understand | mark |
| 34 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 35 understand | nsubj |
| 35 | understand | understand | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 32 confess | ccomp |
| 36 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 38 know | cc |
| 37 | _ | _ | PUNCT | _ | 38 know | punct |
| 38 | know | know | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 35 understand | conj |
| 39 | _ | _ | PUNCT | _ | 38 know | discourse |
| 40 | for | for | ADP | _ | 41 certain | case |
| 41 | certain | certain | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 38 know | xcomp |
| 42 | very | very | ADV | _ | 43 little | advmod |
| 43 | little | little | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 41 certain | obl:unmarked |
| 44 | about | about | ADP | _ | 47 ju | case |
| 45 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 47 ju | compound |
| 46 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 45 ju | punct |
| 47 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 43 little | obl |
| 48 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 32 confess | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | make | present · perfect | I | a special study of witchcraft and ju ju | poison obl; the various societies in this district for nine years obl | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent study=Product | |||
| 2 | confess | must | I | vn confess-37.10 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 3 | understand | present | I | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | |||||
| 4 | know | present | I not said here | certain property | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | ||||
| 5 | study | witchcraft | nom study «act transitive»: of=patient |
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/pg70959/1/70/