Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xiii.--of Chief Amaza, His Wife Achi and the Tortoise., sentence 50
Since that time tortoises have always been sacrificed to the Ekpinon ju-ju, and the Okuni people always warn their children never to go out in the middle of the day, when the sun is high up, as they might meet the Ekpinon ju-ju without knowing it, and when they returned home they would get sick and die.
Who acts: Okuni people, sun, people · What happens: sacrifice, warn, not go out, be, meet, know · To what, where: Ekpinon ju ju, children, middle, sun · 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 (Okuni people, sun, people), 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 | Since | since | ADP | _ | 4 tortoises | case |
| 2 | that | that | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 3 time | det |
| 3 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 tortoises | compound |
| 4 | tortoises | tortoise | NOUN | Number=Plur | 8 sacrificed | obl |
| 5 | have | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 8 sacrificed | aux |
| 6 | always | always | ADV | PronType=Tot | 8 sacrificed | advmod |
| 7 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 8 sacrificed | aux:pass |
| 8 | sacrificed | sacrifice | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 9 | to | to | ADP | _ | 14 ju | case |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 ju | det |
| 11 | Ekpinon | Ekpinon | PROPN | Number=Sing | 14 ju | compound |
| 12 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 ju | compound |
| 13 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 12 ju | punct |
| 14 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 sacrificed | obl |
| 15 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 21 warn | punct |
| 16 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 21 warn | cc |
| 17 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 19 people | det |
| 18 | Okuni | Okuni | PROPN | Number=Sing | 19 people | compound |
| 19 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 21 warn | nsubj |
| 20 | always | always | ADV | PronType=Tot | 21 warn | advmod |
| 21 | warn | warn | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 8 sacrificed | conj |
| 22 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 23 children | nmod:poss |
| 23 | children | child | NOUN | Number=Plur | 21 warn | obj |
| 24 | never | never | ADV | PronType=Neg | 26 go | advmod |
| 25 | to | to | PART | _ | 26 go | mark |
| 26 | go | go | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | 21 warn | ccomp |
| 27 | out | out | ADV | _ | 26 go | advmod |
| 28 | in | in | ADP | _ | 30 middle | case |
| 29 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 30 middle | det |
| 30 | middle | middle | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 go | obl |
| 31 | of | of | ADP | _ | 33 day | case |
| 32 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 33 day | det |
| 33 | day | day | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 middle | nmod |
| 34 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 40 up | punct |
| 35 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 40 up | advmod |
| 36 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 37 sun | det |
| 37 | sun | sun | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 up | nsubj |
| 38 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 40 up | cop |
| 39 | high | high | ADV | Degree=Pos | 40 up | advmod |
| 40 | up | up | ADV | _ | 21 warn | advmod |
| 41 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 45 meet | punct |
| 42 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 45 meet | mark |
| 43 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 45 meet | nsubj |
| 44 | might | might | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 45 meet | aux |
| 45 | meet | meet | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 21 warn | conj |
| 46 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 50 ju | det |
| 47 | Ekpinon | Ekpinon | PROPN | Number=Sing | 50 ju | compound |
| 48 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 50 ju | compound |
| 49 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 48 ju | punct |
| 50 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 45 meet | obj |
| 51 | without | without | SCONJ | _ | 52 knowing | mark |
| 52 | knowing | know | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 45 meet | advcl |
| 53 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 52 knowing | obj |
| 54 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 62 get | punct |
| 55 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 62 get | cc |
| 56 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 58 returned | advmod |
| 57 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 58 returned | nsubj |
| 58 | returned | return | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 62 get | advcl |
| 59 | home | home | ADV | _ | 58 returned | advmod |
| 60 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 62 get | nsubj |
| 61 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 62 get | aux |
| 62 | get | get | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 8 sacrificed | parataxis |
| 63 | sick | sick | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 62 get | xcomp |
| 64 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 65 die | cc |
| 65 | die | die | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 62 get | conj |
| 66 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 8 sacrificed | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | sacrifice | present · perfect · passive | the Ekpinon ju ju | since time tortoises | always property | vn contribute-13.2-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient»: to ju=Recipient | |||
| 2 | warn speech: warn | present | the Okuni people | people's children | always property | vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP how S_INF»: agent=Agent child=Recipient clause=Topic | |||
| 3 | not go out | to-infinitive | the middle of the day | out property | vn interact-36.6 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 4 | is | present | the sun | high, up property | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | meet | might | people | the Ekpinon ju ju | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ju=Co-Agent | ||||
| 6 | know | gerund | people not said here | sun | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus | ||||
| 7 | return | past | people | home property | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 8 | get | would | people | sick property | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer | ||||
| 9 | die | infinitive | people not said here | vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
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/pg70959/10/50/