Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 55
As there was no one besides the boy to give evidence the chief said he could not treat Oghabi as a poisoner.
Who acts: one, chief, OGHABI · What happens: be, give, say, not treat · To what, where: evidence, Oghabi · 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 (one, chief, OGHABI), 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 | SCONJ | _ | 3 was | mark |
| 2 | there | there | PRON | PronType=Dem | 3 was | expl |
| 3 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 besides | cop |
| 4 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 5 one | det |
| 5 | one | one | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 besides | nsubj |
| 6 | besides | beside | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 boy | det |
| 8 | boy | boy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 besides | obj |
| 9 | to | to | PART | _ | 10 give | mark |
| 10 | give | give | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 6 besides | advcl |
| 11 | evidence | evidence | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 give | obj |
| 12 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 13 chief | det |
| 13 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 said | nsubj |
| 14 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 11 evidence | acl:relcl |
| 15 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 18 treat | nsubj |
| 16 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 18 treat | aux |
| 17 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 18 treat | advmod |
| 18 | treat | treat | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 14 said | ccomp |
| 19 | Oghabi | Oghabi | PROPN | Number=Sing | 18 treat | obj |
| 20 | as | as | ADP | _ | 22 poisoner | case |
| 21 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 22 poisoner | det |
| 22 | poisoner | poisoner | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 treat | obl |
| 23 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 6 besides | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | no one | the boy obj; beside property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | give | to-infinitive | no one not said here | evidence | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent evidence=Theme | ||||
| 3 | say speech: assert | past | the chief | evidence not said here | tree rules | ||||
| 4 | not treat | could | OGHABI | Oghabi | as a poisoner | vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent oghabi=Theme as poisoner=Attribute |
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.
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