Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 31
When the man came he consulted his skull and then said: “It was your best friend who sent the snake to kill you but I will not mention his name unless you promise to revenge yourself upon him.”
Who acts: man, skull, best friend, you · What happens: come, consult, say, be, send, kill · To what, where: skull, best friend, snake, you, name, revenge · 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 (man, skull, best friend, you), 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 | When | when | SCONJ | _ | 4 came | mark |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 man | det |
| 3 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 came | nsubj |
| 4 | came | come | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 consulted | advcl |
| 5 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 6 consulted | nsubj |
| 6 | consulted | consult | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 7 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 8 skull | nmod:poss |
| 8 | skull | skull | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 consulted | obj |
| 9 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 11 said | cc |
| 10 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 11 said | advmod |
| 11 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 consulted | conj |
| 12 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 18 friend | punct |
| 13 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 18 friend | punct |
| 14 | It | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 18 friend | nsubj |
| 15 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 18 friend | cop |
| 16 | your | your | PRON | Case=Gen Person=2 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 18 friend | nmod:poss |
| 17 | best | good | ADJ | Degree=Sup | 18 friend | amod |
| 18 | friend | friend | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 said | ccomp |
| 19 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 20 sent | nsubj |
| 20 | sent | send | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 18 friend | acl:relcl |
| 21 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 22 snake | det |
| 22 | snake | snake | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 sent | obj |
| 23 | to | to | PART | _ | 24 kill | mark |
| 24 | kill | kill | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 20 sent | advcl |
| 25 | you | you | PRON | Case=Acc Person=2 PronType=Prs | 24 kill | obj |
| 26 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 30 mention | cc |
| 27 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 30 mention | nsubj |
| 28 | will | will | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 30 mention | aux |
| 29 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 30 mention | advmod |
| 30 | mention | mention | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 20 sent | conj |
| 31 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 32 name | nmod:poss |
| 32 | name | name | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 mention | obj |
| 33 | unless | unless | SCONJ | _ | 35 promise | mark |
| 34 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 35 promise | nsubj |
| 35 | promise | promise | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 30 mention | advcl |
| 36 | to | to | PART | _ | 37 revenge | mark |
| 37 | revenge | revenge | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 promise | xcomp |
| 38 | yourself | yourself | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=2 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes | 35 promise | obl |
| 39 | upon | upon | ADP | _ | 40 him | case |
| 40 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 35 promise | obl |
| 41 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 6 consulted | punct |
| 42 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 6 consulted | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | come | past | the man | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 2 | consult | past | man | man's skull | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent skull=Theme | ||||
| 3 | say speech: assert | past | man not said here | then | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 4 | is a in a quote | past | skull | your best friend | your nmod:poss | tree rules | |||
| 5 | send in a quote | past | your best friend | the snake | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent snake=Theme | ||||
| 6 | kill in a quote | to-infinitive | your best friend not said here | you | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent you=Theme | ||||
| 7 | not mention speech: other in a quote | future | man | man's name | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent name=Topic | ||||
| 8 | promise speech: promise a condition, not said to happen, in a quote | present | you | revenge | upon man; yourself obl | vn promise-37.13 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | |||
| 9 | name in a quote | man | nom name «communication 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/pg70959/12/31/