Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xiii.--of Chief Amaza, His Wife Achi and the Tortoise., sentence 44
He then placed the tortoise on the ground in front of his ju-ju, and drove a stake through his body, and said to the ju-ju, “This is the man who stole Achi’s baby from me, and prevented me from making a human sacrifice for you, so you must take him instead.”
Who acts: man, This, ju ju · What happens: place, drive, say, be, steal, prevent · To what, where: tortoise, ground, stake, body, ju ju, man · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xiii.--of Chief Amaza, His Wife Achi and the Tortoise.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, This, ju 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 | He | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 placed | nsubj |
| 2 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 3 placed | advmod |
| 3 | placed | place | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 tortoise | det |
| 5 | tortoise | tortoise | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 placed | obj |
| 6 | on | on | ADP | _ | 8 ground | case |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 ground | det |
| 8 | ground | ground | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 placed | obl |
| 9 | in | in | ADP | _ | 10 front | case |
| 10 | front | front | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 placed | obl |
| 11 | of | of | ADP | _ | 15 ju | case |
| 12 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 15 ju | nmod:poss |
| 13 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 ju | compound |
| 14 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 13 ju | punct |
| 15 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 front | nmod |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 18 drove | punct |
| 17 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 18 drove | cc |
| 18 | drove | drive | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 placed | conj |
| 19 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 20 stake | det |
| 20 | stake | stake | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 drove | obj |
| 21 | through | through | ADP | _ | 23 body | case |
| 22 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 23 body | nmod:poss |
| 23 | body | body | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 drove | obl |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 26 said | punct |
| 25 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 26 said | cc |
| 26 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 placed | conj |
| 27 | to | to | ADP | _ | 31 ju | case |
| 28 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 31 ju | det |
| 29 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 ju | compound |
| 30 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 29 ju | punct |
| 31 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 said | obl |
| 32 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 37 man | punct |
| 33 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 37 man | punct |
| 34 | This | this | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 37 man | nsubj |
| 35 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 37 man | cop |
| 36 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 37 man | det |
| 37 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 ju | appos |
| 38 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 39 stole | nsubj |
| 39 | stole | steal | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 37 man | acl:relcl |
| 40 | Achi | Achi | PROPN | Number=Sing | 42 baby | nmod:poss |
| 41 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 40 Achi | case |
| 42 | baby | baby | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 stole | obj |
| 43 | from | from | ADP | _ | 44 me | case |
| 44 | me | I | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 39 stole | obl |
| 45 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 47 prevented | punct |
| 46 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 47 prevented | cc |
| 47 | prevented | prevent | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 placed | conj |
| 48 | me | I | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 47 prevented | obj |
| 49 | from | from | SCONJ | _ | 50 making | mark |
| 50 | making | make | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 47 prevented | advcl |
| 51 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 53 sacrifice | det |
| 52 | human | human | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 53 sacrifice | amod |
| 53 | sacrifice | sacrifice | NOUN | Number=Sing | 50 making | obj |
| 54 | for | for | ADP | _ | 55 you | case |
| 55 | you | you | PRON | Case=Acc Person=2 PronType=Prs | 50 making | obl |
| 56 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 60 take | punct |
| 57 | so | so | ADV | _ | 60 take | advmod |
| 58 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 60 take | nsubj |
| 59 | must | must | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 60 take | aux |
| 60 | take | take | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 3 placed | parataxis |
| 61 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 60 take | obj |
| 62 | instead | instead | ADV | _ | 60 take | advmod |
| 63 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 60 take | punct |
| 64 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 60 take | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | place | past | man | the tortoise | the ground | then | in front of man's ju ju | tree rules | |
| 2 | drive | past | man not said here | a stake | man's body | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent stake=Theme through body=Trajectory | |||
| 3 | say speech: assert | past | man not said here | the ju ju | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to ju=Recipient | ||||
| 4 | is a in a quote | present | This | the man | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | steal in a quote | past | the man | Achi's baby | from man | vn steal-10.5-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent baby=Theme from i=Source | |||
| 6 | prevent in a quote | past | man not said here | man | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer i=Theme | ||||
| 7 | make in a quote | gerund | man not said here | a human sacrifice | for the ju ju = ju | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent sacrifice=Product for you=Beneficiary | |||
| 8 | take in a quote | must | the ju ju = ju | man | instead property | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument he=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/pg70959/10/44/