Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 47
When they had reached half way and were sitting down to rest, Okpa’s youngest son came running up to them and implored them to return with him and help his father as they were all very ill and in great pain.
Who acts: calabashes, youngest son · What happens: reach, sit down, rest, come, run up, implore · To what, where: way, calabashes, 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 (calabashes, youngest son), 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 reached | mark |
| 2 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 reached | nsubj |
| 3 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 reached | aux |
| 4 | reached | reach | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 18 came | advcl |
| 5 | half | half | ADV | NumForm=Word NumType=Frac | 6 way | advmod |
| 6 | way | way | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 reached | obl |
| 7 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 9 sitting | cc |
| 8 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 sitting | aux |
| 9 | sitting | sit | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 4 reached | conj |
| 10 | down | down | ADV | _ | 9 sitting | advmod |
| 11 | to | to | PART | _ | 12 rest | mark |
| 12 | rest | rest | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 9 sitting | advcl |
| 13 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 4 reached | punct |
| 14 | Okpa | Okpa | PROPN | Number=Sing | 17 son | nmod:poss |
| 15 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 14 Okpa | case |
| 16 | youngest | young | ADJ | Degree=Sup | 17 son | amod |
| 17 | son | son | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 came | nsubj |
| 18 | came | come | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 19 | running | run | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 18 came | advcl |
| 20 | up | up | ADP | _ | 19 running | compound:prt |
| 21 | to | to | ADP | _ | 22 them | case |
| 22 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 19 running | obl |
| 23 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 24 implored | cc |
| 24 | implored | implore | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 18 came | conj |
| 25 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 24 implored | obj |
| 26 | to | to | PART | _ | 27 return | mark |
| 27 | return | return | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 24 implored | advcl |
| 28 | with | with | ADP | _ | 29 him | case |
| 29 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 27 return | obl |
| 30 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 31 help | cc |
| 31 | help | help | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 27 return | conj |
| 32 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 33 father | nmod:poss |
| 33 | father | father | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 help | obj |
| 34 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 39 ill | mark |
| 35 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 39 ill | nsubj |
| 36 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 39 ill | cop |
| 37 | all | all | ADV | _ | 39 ill | advmod |
| 38 | very | very | ADV | _ | 39 ill | advmod |
| 39 | ill | ill | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 31 help | advcl |
| 40 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 43 pain | cc |
| 41 | in | in | ADP | _ | 43 pain | case |
| 42 | great | great | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 43 pain | amod |
| 43 | pain | pain | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 ill | conj |
| 44 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 18 came | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | reach | past · perfect | calabashes = calabash | way | vn body_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 2 | sit down | past · progressive | calabashes = calabash not said here | down property | vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 3 | rest | to-infinitive | calabashes = calabash not said here | vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 4 | come | past | Okpa's youngest son | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 5 | run up | gerund | Okpa's youngest son not said here | calabashes = calabash | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme to they=Result | ||||
| 6 | implore | past | Okpa's youngest son not said here | calabashes = calabash | vn urge-58.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Recipient | ||||
| 7 | return | to-infinitive | Okpa's youngest son not said here | with OKPA | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 8 | help | infinitive | Okpa's youngest son not said here | OKPA's father | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent father=Beneficiary | ||||
| 9 | is | past | calabashes = calabash | great pain conj; all, ill property | tree rules |
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/pg70959/12/47/