Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 117
As a reward to the rabbit, the chief pointed to his farm and said, “you can eat as much as you like of the yams, cassava, and of the palm-nuts which fall to the ground, and take them home and nobody will take them from you.”
Who acts: chief, you, palm nuts, nobody · What happens: point, say, eat, fall, take · To what, where: farm, much, nuts · 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 (chief, you, palm nuts, nobody), 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 | _ | 3 reward | case |
| 2 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 reward | det |
| 3 | reward | reward | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 pointed | obl |
| 4 | to | to | ADP | _ | 6 rabbit | case |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 rabbit | det |
| 6 | rabbit | rabbit | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 reward | nmod |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 3 reward | punct |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 chief | det |
| 9 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 pointed | nsubj |
| 10 | pointed | point | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 11 | to | to | ADP | _ | 13 farm | case |
| 12 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 13 farm | nmod:poss |
| 13 | farm | farm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 pointed | obl |
| 14 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 15 said | cc |
| 15 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 10 pointed | conj |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 eat | punct |
| 17 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 20 eat | punct |
| 18 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 20 eat | nsubj |
| 19 | can | can | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 20 eat | aux |
| 20 | eat | eat | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 15 said | ccomp |
| 21 | as | as | ADV | _ | 22 much | advmod |
| 22 | much | much | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 20 eat | obj |
| 23 | as | as | ADP | _ | 24 you | case |
| 24 | you | you | PRON | Case=Acc Person=2 PronType=Prs | 22 much | nmod |
| 25 | like | like | ADP | _ | 28 yams | case |
| 26 | of | of | ADP | _ | 28 yams | case |
| 27 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 28 yams | det |
| 28 | yams | yam | NOUN | Number=Plur | 22 much | obl |
| 29 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 30 cassava | punct |
| 30 | cassava | cassava | NOUN | Number=Sing | 28 yams | conj |
| 31 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 37 nuts | punct |
| 32 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 37 nuts | cc |
| 33 | of | of | ADP | _ | 37 nuts | case |
| 34 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 37 nuts | det |
| 35 | palm | palm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 nuts | compound |
| 36 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 35 palm | punct |
| 37 | nuts | nut | NOUN | Number=Plur | 20 eat | obl |
| 38 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 39 fall | nsubj |
| 39 | fall | fall | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 37 nuts | acl:relcl |
| 40 | to | to | ADP | _ | 42 ground | case |
| 41 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 42 ground | det |
| 42 | ground | ground | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 fall | obl |
| 43 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 45 take | punct |
| 44 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 45 take | cc |
| 45 | take | take | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 20 eat | conj |
| 46 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 45 take | obj |
| 47 | home | home | ADV | _ | 45 take | advmod |
| 48 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 51 take | cc |
| 49 | nobody | nobody | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Neg | 51 take | nsubj |
| 50 | will | will | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 51 take | aux |
| 51 | take | take | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 45 take | conj |
| 52 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 51 take | obj |
| 53 | from | from | ADP | _ | 54 you | case |
| 54 | you | you | PRON | Case=Acc Person=2 PronType=Prs | 51 take | obl |
| 55 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 10 pointed | punct |
| 56 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 10 pointed | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | point | past | the chief | rabbit's farm | as a reward to the rabbit | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to farm=Recipient | |||
| 2 | say speech: assert | past | the chief not said here | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 3 | eat in a quote | can | you | much like the yams and cassava | as you; of the palm nuts | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent much=Patient | |||
| 4 | fall in a quote | present | the palm nuts | to the ground | vn acquiesce-95.1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to ground=Theme | ||||
| 5 | take in a quote | infinitive | you not said here | nuts = nut | home property | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme | |||
| 6 | take in a quote | future | nobody | nuts = nut | from you | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial_location»: agent=Agent they=Theme from you=Initial_Location |
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/pg70959/12/117/