Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 74
The man whose name has been “called” and who has passed the ju-ju firmly believes in its power to kill him, and he will go home, refuse to eat, and in a short time will pine away and die.
Who acts: ju ju, man · What happens: call, pass, believe, kill, go, refuse · To what, where: man, power · Speech: someone speaks here
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 (ju ju, man), 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 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 man | det |
| 2 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 called | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | whose | whose | PRON | Poss=Yes PronType=Rel | 4 name | nmod:poss |
| 4 | name | name | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 man | obj |
| 5 | has | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 8 called | aux |
| 6 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 8 called | aux:pass |
| 7 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 8 called | punct |
| 8 | called | call | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 9 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 8 called | punct |
| 10 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 13 passed | cc |
| 11 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 13 passed | nsubj:pass |
| 12 | has | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 13 passed | aux |
| 13 | passed | pass | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 8 called | conj |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 17 ju | det |
| 15 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 ju | compound |
| 16 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 15 ju | punct |
| 17 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 believes | nsubj |
| 18 | firmly | firmly | ADV | _ | 19 believes | advmod |
| 19 | believes | believe | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 13 passed | parataxis |
| 20 | in | in | ADP | _ | 22 power | case |
| 21 | its | its | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 22 power | nmod:poss |
| 22 | power | power | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 believes | obl |
| 23 | to | to | PART | _ | 24 kill | mark |
| 24 | kill | kill | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 19 believes | advcl |
| 25 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 24 kill | obj |
| 26 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 30 go | punct |
| 27 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 30 go | cc |
| 28 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 30 go | nsubj |
| 29 | will | will | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 30 go | aux |
| 30 | go | go | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 8 called | conj |
| 31 | home | home | ADV | _ | 30 go | advmod |
| 32 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 33 refuse | punct |
| 33 | refuse | refuse | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 30 go | conj |
| 34 | to | to | PART | _ | 35 eat | mark |
| 35 | eat | eat | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 33 refuse | xcomp |
| 36 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 43 pine | punct |
| 37 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 43 pine | cc |
| 38 | in | in | ADP | _ | 41 time | case |
| 39 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 41 time | det |
| 40 | short | short | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 41 time | amod |
| 41 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 43 pine | compound |
| 42 | will | will | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 43 pine | aux |
| 43 | pine | pine | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 called | xcomp |
| 44 | away | away | ADV | _ | 43 pine | advmod |
| 45 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 46 die | cc |
| 46 | die | die | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 8 called | conj |
| 47 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 8 called | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | call in a quote | present · perfect · passive | the man the man the man's name's name | time pine xcomp | vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient | ||||
| 2 | pass | present · perfect · passive | who nsubj:pass | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V NP»: subject=Trajectory | |||||
| 3 | believe | present | the ju ju | ju's power | firmly property | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer | |||
| 4 | kill | to-infinitive | the ju ju not said here | man | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme | ||||
| 5 | go | future | man | home property | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 6 | refuse | infinitive | man not said here | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | |||||
| 7 | not eat | to-infinitive | man not said here | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 8 | die | infinitive | vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | ||||||
| 9 | name | the man the man name's name | nom name «communication transitive»: poss=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/pg70959/1/74/