Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xiii.--of Chief Amaza, His Wife Achi and the Tortoise., sentence 46
He then consulted a lot-caster called Aja as to the baby’s future, and asked him whether the child would live or die as the ju-ju man had seen him.
Who acts: Achi, child, ju man · What happens: consult, call, ask, live, die, see · To what, where: lot caster, Achi · 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 (Achi, child, 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 | He | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 consulted | nsubj |
| 2 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 3 consulted | advmod |
| 3 | consulted | consult | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 7 caster | det |
| 5 | lot | lot | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 caster | compound |
| 6 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 5 lot | punct |
| 7 | caster | caster | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 consulted | obj |
| 8 | called | call | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 7 caster | acl |
| 9 | Aja | Aja | PROPN | Number=Sing | 8 called | xcomp |
| 10 | as | as | ADP | ExtPos=ADP | 15 future | case |
| 11 | to | to | ADP | _ | 10 as | fixed |
| 12 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 13 baby | det |
| 13 | baby | baby | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 future | nmod:poss |
| 14 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 13 baby | case |
| 15 | future | future | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 called | obl |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 18 asked | punct |
| 17 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 18 asked | cc |
| 18 | asked | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 consulted | conj |
| 19 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 18 asked | iobj |
| 20 | whether | whether | SCONJ | _ | 24 live | mark |
| 21 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 22 child | det |
| 22 | child | child | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 live | nsubj |
| 23 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 24 live | aux |
| 24 | live | live | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 18 asked | xcomp |
| 25 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 26 die | cc |
| 26 | die | die | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 24 live | conj |
| 27 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 34 seen | mark |
| 28 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 32 man | det |
| 29 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 ju | compound |
| 30 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 29 ju | punct |
| 31 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 man | compound |
| 32 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 seen | nsubj |
| 33 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 34 seen | aux |
| 34 | seen | see | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 26 die | advcl |
| 35 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 34 seen | obj |
| 36 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 consulted | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | consult | past | Achi | a lot caster | then | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent caster=Theme | |||
| 2 | call | participle | a lot caster not said here | as the baby's future; Aja xcomp | vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 3 | ask speech: ask | past | Achi not said here | Achi | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 4 | live not said to happen | would | the child | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 5 | die | infinitive | the child not said here | vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | |||||
| 6 | see | past · perfect | the ju man | Achi | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus |
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/pg70959/10/46/