Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 111
Then the frog promised to cure the people, but begged the cock and the rabbit not to kill him but to throw him into the water to drown, this they agreed to do.
Who acts: frog, this · What happens: promise, cure, beg, not kill, throw, drown · To what, where: people, cock, water · Speech: someone speaks here
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 (frog, this), 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 | Then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 4 promised | advmod |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 frog | det |
| 3 | frog | frog | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 promised | nsubj |
| 4 | promised | promise | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | to | to | PART | _ | 6 cure | mark |
| 6 | cure | cure | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 4 promised | xcomp |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 people | det |
| 8 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 cure | obj |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 11 begged | punct |
| 10 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 11 begged | cc |
| 11 | begged | beg | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 promised | conj |
| 12 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 13 cock | det |
| 13 | cock | cock | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 begged | obj |
| 14 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 16 rabbit | cc |
| 15 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 16 rabbit | det |
| 16 | rabbit | rabbit | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 cock | conj |
| 17 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 19 kill | advmod |
| 18 | to | to | PART | _ | 19 kill | mark |
| 19 | kill | kill | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 11 begged | ccomp |
| 20 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 19 kill | obj |
| 21 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 23 throw | cc |
| 22 | to | to | PART | _ | 23 throw | mark |
| 23 | throw | throw | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 19 kill | conj |
| 24 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 23 throw | obj |
| 25 | into | into | ADP | _ | 27 water | case |
| 26 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 27 water | det |
| 27 | water | water | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 throw | obl |
| 28 | to | to | PART | _ | 29 drown | mark |
| 29 | drown | drown | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 23 throw | advcl |
| 30 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 33 agreed | punct |
| 31 | this | this | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 33 agreed | nsubj |
| 32 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 33 agreed | nsubj |
| 33 | agreed | agree | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 promised | conj |
| 34 | to | to | PART | _ | 35 do | mark |
| 35 | do | do | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 33 agreed | xcomp |
| 36 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 promised | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | promise speech: promise | past | the frog | then | vn promise-37.13 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | ||||
| 2 | cure not said to happen | to-infinitive | the frog not said here | the people | vn free-10.6.3-1-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Causer people=Source | ||||
| 3 | beg speech: request | past | the frog not said here | the cock and the rabbit | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent cock=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 4 | not kill not said to happen | to-infinitive | COCK | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme | |||||
| 5 | throw | to-infinitive | COCK | into the water result | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Causer he=Theme into water=Result | ||||
| 6 | drown | to-infinitive | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | ||||||
| 7 | agree speech: agree | past | this | people nsubj | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | ||||
| 8 | do not said to happen | to-infinitive | this not said here | vn act-114-1 «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/pg70959/12/111/