Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 82
These evil practices have been practically stopped now, but the native belief in witchcraft and ju-ju is just as strong as ever, although they know quite well that to call a man a witch is an offence for which they will get into trouble.
Who acts: evil practices, native belief, practices, witch · What happens: have, be, know, call, get · To what, where: man, offence, trouble · 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 (evil practices, native belief, practices, witch), 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 | These | this | DET | Number=Plur PronType=Dem | 3 practices | det |
| 2 | evil | evil | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 practices | amod |
| 3 | practices | practice | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 have | nsubj |
| 4 | have | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 7 stopped | cop |
| 6 | practically | practically | ADV | _ | 7 stopped | advmod |
| 7 | stopped | stop | VERB | Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 have | ccomp |
| 8 | now | now | ADV | PronType=Dem | 7 stopped | advmod |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 23 strong | punct |
| 10 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 23 strong | cc |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 13 belief | det |
| 12 | native | native | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 13 belief | amod |
| 13 | belief | belief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 strong | nsubj |
| 14 | in | in | ADP | _ | 15 witchcraft | case |
| 15 | witchcraft | witchcraft | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 belief | nmod |
| 16 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 19 ju | cc |
| 17 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 ju | compound |
| 18 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 17 ju | punct |
| 19 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 witchcraft | conj |
| 20 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 23 strong | cop |
| 21 | just | just | ADV | _ | 23 strong | advmod |
| 22 | as | as | ADV | _ | 23 strong | advmod |
| 23 | strong | strong | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 have | conj |
| 24 | as | as | ADP | _ | 25 ever | case |
| 25 | ever | ever | ADV | PronType=Ind | 23 strong | obl |
| 26 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 29 know | punct |
| 27 | although | although | SCONJ | _ | 29 know | mark |
| 28 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 29 know | nsubj |
| 29 | know | know | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 have | parataxis |
| 30 | quite | quite | ADV | _ | 31 well | advmod |
| 31 | well | well | ADV | Degree=Pos | 29 know | advmod |
| 32 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 34 call | mark |
| 33 | to | to | PART | _ | 34 call | mark |
| 34 | call | call | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 29 know | advcl |
| 35 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 36 man | det |
| 36 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 call | obj |
| 37 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 38 witch | det |
| 38 | witch | witch | NOUN | Number=Sing | 41 offence | nsubj |
| 39 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 41 offence | cop |
| 40 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 41 offence | det |
| 41 | offence | offence | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 call | xcomp |
| 42 | for | for | ADP | _ | 43 which | case |
| 43 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 46 get | obl |
| 44 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 46 get | nsubj |
| 45 | will | will | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 46 get | aux |
| 46 | get | get | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 41 offence | parataxis |
| 47 | into | into | ADP | _ | 48 trouble | case |
| 48 | trouble | trouble | NOUN | Number=Sing | 46 get | obl |
| 49 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 have | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | have | present | this evil practices | tree rules | |||||
| 2 | is | participle | this evil practices not said here | now | practically, stop property | tree rules | |||
| 3 | is | present | the native belief in witchcraft and ju ju | strong property | tree rules | ||||
| 4 | know | present | practices = practice | well property | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | ||||
| 5 | call | to-infinitive | practices = practice not said here | a man | vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent man=Recipient | ||||
| 6 | is a | present | a witch | a offence | tree rules | ||||
| 7 | get | future | practices = practice | trouble | for a offence | vn escape-51.1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme into trouble=Destination |
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/pg70959/1/82/