Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xiii.--of Chief Amaza, His Wife Achi and the Tortoise., sentence 5
About this time a ju-ju man called Nkendeng was driven out of the Okuni towns into the bush near Insofan because he used to kill people with a poison called Ekpinon.
Who acts: man · What happens: call, drive out, use, kill · To what, where: ju man, Okuni towns, people, poison · 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), 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 | About | about | ADP | _ | 3 time | case |
| 2 | this | this | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 3 time | det |
| 3 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 driven | obl |
| 4 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 man | det |
| 5 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 ju | compound |
| 6 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 5 ju | punct |
| 7 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 man | compound |
| 8 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 driven | nsubj:pass |
| 9 | called | call | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 8 man | acl |
| 10 | Nkendeng | Nkendeng | PROPN | Number=Sing | 9 called | xcomp |
| 11 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 12 driven | aux:pass |
| 12 | driven | drive | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 13 | out | out | ADP | _ | 17 towns | case |
| 14 | of | of | ADP | _ | 17 towns | case |
| 15 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 17 towns | det |
| 16 | Okuni | Okuni | PROPN | Number=Sing | 17 towns | compound |
| 17 | towns | town | NOUN | Number=Plur | 12 driven | obl |
| 18 | into | into | ADP | _ | 20 bush | case |
| 19 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 bush | det |
| 20 | bush | bush | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 driven | obl |
| 21 | near | near | ADP | _ | 22 Insofan | case |
| 22 | Insofan | Insofan | PROPN | Number=Sing | 20 bush | nmod |
| 23 | because | because | SCONJ | _ | 25 used | mark |
| 24 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 25 used | nsubj |
| 25 | used | use | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 12 driven | advcl |
| 26 | to | to | PART | _ | 27 kill | mark |
| 27 | kill | kill | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 25 used | xcomp |
| 28 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 27 kill | obj |
| 29 | with | with | ADP | _ | 31 poison | case |
| 30 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 31 poison | det |
| 31 | poison | poison | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 kill | obl |
| 32 | called | call | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 31 poison | acl |
| 33 | Ekpinon | Ekpinon | PROPN | Number=Sing | 32 called | xcomp |
| 34 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 12 driven | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | call | participle | a ju man not said here | Nkendeng xcomp | vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 2 | drive out | past · passive | a ju man | the Okuni towns | time | into the bush near Insofan | vn put_direction-9.4 «NP V NP ADVP»: subject=Theme town=Destination | ||
| 3 | use | past | man | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | |||||
| 4 | kill | to-infinitive | man not said here | people | with a poison | vn murder-42.1-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent people=Patient with poison=Instrument | |||
| 5 | call | participle | a poison not said here | Ekpinon xcomp | vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=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/pg70959/10/5/