Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 10
The chiefs then made a law that, for the future, whenever a man killed another by accident, he should pay two slaves to the father of the dead man, but he should not be killed as he would have been if he had killed the man on purpose.
Who acts: chiefs, man · What happens: make, kill, pay, not kill · To what, where: law, another, two slaves, father
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (chiefs, 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 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 chiefs | det |
| 2 | chiefs | chief | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 made | nsubj |
| 3 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 4 made | advmod |
| 4 | made | make | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 6 law | det |
| 6 | law | law | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 made | obj |
| 7 | that | that | PRON | PronType=Rel | 6 law | dep |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 11 future | punct |
| 9 | for | for | ADP | _ | 11 future | case |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 future | det |
| 11 | future | future | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 made | obl |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 16 killed | punct |
| 13 | whenever | whenever | ADV | PronType=Rel | 16 killed | advmod |
| 14 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 15 man | det |
| 15 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 killed | nsubj |
| 16 | killed | kill | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 made | conj |
| 17 | another | another | DET | PronType=Ind | 16 killed | obj |
| 18 | by | by | ADP | _ | 19 accident | case |
| 19 | accident | accident | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 killed | obl |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 23 pay | punct |
| 21 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 23 pay | nsubj |
| 22 | should | should | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 23 pay | aux |
| 23 | pay | pay | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 16 killed | advcl |
| 24 | two | two | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 25 slaves | nummod |
| 25 | slaves | slave | NOUN | Number=Plur | 23 pay | obj |
| 26 | to | to | ADP | _ | 28 father | case |
| 27 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 28 father | det |
| 28 | father | father | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 pay | obl |
| 29 | of | of | ADP | _ | 32 man | case |
| 30 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 32 man | det |
| 31 | dead | dead | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 32 man | amod |
| 32 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 28 father | nmod |
| 33 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 39 killed | punct |
| 34 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 39 killed | cc |
| 35 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 39 killed | nsubj:pass |
| 36 | should | should | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 39 killed | aux |
| 37 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 39 killed | advmod |
| 38 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 39 killed | aux:pass |
| 39 | killed | kill | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 4 made | conj |
| 40 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 48 killed | mark |
| 41 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 48 killed | nsubj:pass |
| 42 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 48 killed | aux |
| 43 | have | have | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 48 killed | aux |
| 44 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 48 killed | aux:pass |
| 45 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 48 killed | mark |
| 46 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 48 killed | nsubj:pass |
| 47 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 48 killed | aux |
| 48 | killed | kill | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 39 killed | advcl |
| 49 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 50 man | det |
| 50 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 48 killed | obj |
| 51 | on | on | ADP | _ | 52 purpose | case |
| 52 | purpose | purpose | NOUN | Number=Sing | 50 man | nmod |
| 53 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 made | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | make | past | the chiefs | a law that | then | for the future | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP P.asset»: agent=Agent law=Product for future=Asset | ||
| 2 | kill | past | a man | another | by accident; whenever property | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent another=Theme | |||
| 3 | pay | should | man | two slaves | to the father of the dead man | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent slave=Asset | |||
| 4 | not kill | should · passive | father | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | |||||
| 5 | kill | would · perfect · passive | father | the man obj | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Experiencer man=Result |
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/pg70959/12/10/