Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Opening, sentence 98
It may have been that the country was more healthy, and we may have been very fortunate, but the fact remains that where there was no ju-ju there were no deaths, and when we returned to the country of ju-ju deaths were of frequent occurrence.
Who acts: country, we, ju · What happens: be, return · To what, where: healthy fact remains
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 (country, we, ju), 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 | 23 remains | nsubj |
| 2 | may | may | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 23 remains | aux |
| 3 | have | have | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 23 remains | aux |
| 4 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 23 remains | cop |
| 5 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 10 healthy | mark |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 country | det |
| 7 | country | country | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 healthy | nsubj |
| 8 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 10 healthy | cop |
| 9 | more | more | ADV | Degree=Cmp | 10 healthy | advmod |
| 10 | healthy | healthy | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 23 remains | amod |
| 11 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 18 fortunate | punct |
| 12 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 18 fortunate | cc |
| 13 | we | we | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 18 fortunate | nsubj |
| 14 | may | may | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 18 fortunate | aux |
| 15 | have | have | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 18 fortunate | aux |
| 16 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 18 fortunate | cop |
| 17 | very | very | ADV | _ | 18 fortunate | advmod |
| 18 | fortunate | fortunate | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 10 healthy | conj |
| 19 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 23 remains | punct |
| 20 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 23 remains | cc |
| 21 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 23 remains | det |
| 22 | fact | fact | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 remains | compound |
| 23 | remains | remains | NOUN | Number=Ptan | root | root |
| 24 | that | that | PRON | PronType=Rel | 27 was | obj |
| 25 | where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 27 was | advmod |
| 26 | there | there | PRON | PronType=Dem | 27 was | expl |
| 27 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 23 remains | acl:relcl |
| 28 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 31 ju | det |
| 29 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 ju | compound |
| 30 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 29 ju | punct |
| 31 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 was | nsubj |
| 32 | there | there | PRON | PronType=Dem | 33 were | expl |
| 33 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 31 ju | acl:relcl |
| 34 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 35 deaths | det |
| 35 | deaths | death | NOUN | Number=Plur | 33 were | nsubj |
| 36 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 40 returned | punct |
| 37 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 40 returned | cc |
| 38 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 40 returned | advmod |
| 39 | we | we | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 40 returned | nsubj |
| 40 | returned | return | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 23 remains | conj |
| 41 | to | to | ADP | _ | 43 country | case |
| 42 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 43 country | det |
| 43 | country | country | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 returned | obl |
| 44 | of | of | ADP | _ | 48 deaths | case |
| 45 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 47 ju | compound |
| 46 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 45 ju | punct |
| 47 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 48 deaths | compound |
| 48 | deaths | death | NOUN | Number=Plur | 52 occurrence | obl |
| 49 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 52 occurrence | cop |
| 50 | of | of | ADP | _ | 52 occurrence | case |
| 51 | frequent | frequent | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 52 occurrence | amod |
| 52 | occurrence | occurrence | NOUN | Number=Sing | 43 country | conj |
| 53 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 23 remains | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | the country | healthy property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | is | may · perfect | we | fortunate property | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | is a | may · perfect | ju | the healthy fact remains | tree rules | ||||
| 4 | return | past | we | to the country and frequent occurrence result | vn convert-26.6.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Patient to country=Result | ||||
| 5 | is | past | we not said here | of frequent occurrence; of ju deaths | tree rules |
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/pg70959/1/98/