Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xiii.--of Chief Amaza, His Wife Achi and the Tortoise., sentence 8
As Achi was skilful at catching fish, she begged her husband to allow her to go, but he refused on account of her condition.
Who acts: fish, husband · What happens: be, catch, beg, allow, go, refuse · To what, where: fish, husband, account, condition
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 (fish, husband), 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 | As | as | ADP | _ | 2 Achi | case |
| 2 | Achi | Achi | PROPN | Number=Sing | 4 skilful | obl |
| 3 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 skilful | cop |
| 4 | skilful | skilful | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 5 | at | at | SCONJ | _ | 6 catching | mark |
| 6 | catching | catch | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 4 skilful | advcl |
| 7 | fish | fish | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 catching | obj |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 10 begged | punct |
| 9 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 10 begged | nsubj |
| 10 | begged | beg | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 skilful | conj |
| 11 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 12 husband | nmod:poss |
| 12 | husband | husband | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 begged | obj |
| 13 | to | to | PART | _ | 14 allow | mark |
| 14 | allow | allow | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 10 begged | advcl |
| 15 | her | she | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 14 allow | iobj |
| 16 | to | to | PART | _ | 17 go | mark |
| 17 | go | go | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 14 allow | xcomp |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 21 refused | punct |
| 19 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 21 refused | cc |
| 20 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 21 refused | nsubj |
| 21 | refused | refuse | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 skilful | parataxis |
| 22 | on | on | ADP | _ | 23 account | case |
| 23 | account | account | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 refused | obl |
| 24 | of | of | ADP | _ | 26 condition | case |
| 25 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 26 condition | nmod:poss |
| 26 | condition | condition | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 account | nmod |
| 27 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 skilful | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | as Achi; skilful property | tree rules | |||||
| 2 | catch | gerund | fish | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fish=Theme | |||||
| 3 | beg speech: request | past | fish | fish's husband | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP PP.Topic»: agent=Agent husband=Recipient | ||||
| 4 | allow | to-infinitive | fish not said here | fish | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP S»: agent=Causer she=Beneficiary clause=Eventuality | ||||
| 5 | go not said to happen | to-infinitive | fish not said here | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 6 | refuse | past | husband | account of fish's condition | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 7 | account | fish's condition | nom account «communication transitive»: of=patient | ||||||
| 8 | condition | fish | nom condition «state transitive»: poss=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/pg70959/10/8/