Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xiv.--the Fate of Agbor the Hunter, Who Killed His Wife and Children., sentence 18
Agbor then got his matchet, and having sharpened it on a stone, went into the house and cut his wife’s head off, and then killed his two children.
Who acts: Agbor · What happens: get, sharpen, go, cut off, kill · To what, where: matchet, stone, house, head, two children
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xiv.--the Fate of Agbor the Hunter, Who Killed His Wife and Children.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Agbor), 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 | Agbor | Agbor | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 got | nsubj |
| 2 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 3 got | advmod |
| 3 | got | get | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 5 matchet | nmod:poss |
| 5 | matchet | matchet | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 got | obj |
| 6 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 9 sharpened | punct |
| 7 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 9 sharpened | cc |
| 8 | having | have | AUX | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 9 sharpened | aux |
| 9 | sharpened | sharpen | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 3 got | conj |
| 10 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 9 sharpened | obj |
| 11 | on | on | ADP | _ | 13 stone | case |
| 12 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 13 stone | det |
| 13 | stone | stone | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 sharpened | obl |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 went | punct |
| 15 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 got | conj |
| 16 | into | into | ADP | _ | 18 house | case |
| 17 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 18 house | det |
| 18 | house | house | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 went | obl |
| 19 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 20 cut | cc |
| 20 | cut | cut | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 15 went | conj |
| 21 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 22 wife | nmod:poss |
| 22 | wife | wife | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 head | nmod:poss |
| 23 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 22 wife | case |
| 24 | head | head | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 cut | obj |
| 25 | off | off | ADP | _ | 20 cut | compound:prt |
| 26 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 29 killed | punct |
| 27 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 29 killed | cc |
| 28 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 29 killed | advmod |
| 29 | killed | kill | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 got | conj |
| 30 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 32 children | nmod:poss |
| 31 | two | two | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 32 children | nummod |
| 32 | children | child | NOUN | Number=Plur | 29 killed | obj |
| 33 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 got | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | get | past | Agbor | Agbor's matchet | then | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer matchet=Stimulus | |||
| 2 | sharpen | gerund · perfect | Agbor not said here | matchet | a stone | vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent it=Patient | |||
| 3 | go | past | Agbor not said here | the house | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme into house=Initial_Location | ||||
| 4 | cut off | past | Agbor not said here | Agbor's wife's head | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector head=Eventuality | ||||
| 5 | kill | past | Agbor not said here | Agbor's two children | then | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent child=Theme |
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.
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