Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 78
As he was putting the yams into the basket, he took a great fancy to one particular yam-tail which he thought he would like to take home and eat, so he placed the yam-tail behind the tree where his father was standing, and then took the remaining yams out to the people on the farm to plant.
Who acts: Eba, one particular yam tail, father · What happens: put, take, think, like, eat, place · To what, where: yams, basket, great fancy, one particular yam tail, yam tail, tree · 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 (Eba, one particular yam tail, father), 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 | _ | 4 putting | mark |
| 2 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 putting | nsubj |
| 3 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 putting | aux |
| 4 | putting | put | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 12 took | advcl |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 yams | det |
| 6 | yams | yam | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 putting | obj |
| 7 | into | into | ADP | _ | 9 basket | case |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 basket | det |
| 9 | basket | basket | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 putting | obl |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 4 putting | punct |
| 11 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 12 took | nsubj |
| 12 | took | take | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 13 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 15 fancy | det |
| 14 | great | great | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 15 fancy | amod |
| 15 | fancy | fancy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 took | obj |
| 16 | to | to | ADP | _ | 21 tail | case |
| 17 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 21 tail | nummod |
| 18 | particular | particular | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 21 tail | amod |
| 19 | yam | yam | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 tail | compound |
| 20 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 19 yam | punct |
| 21 | tail | tail | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 took | obl |
| 22 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 24 thought | nsubj |
| 23 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 24 thought | nsubj |
| 24 | thought | think | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 21 tail | acl:relcl |
| 25 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 27 like | nsubj |
| 26 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 27 like | aux |
| 27 | like | like | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 24 thought | ccomp |
| 28 | to | to | PART | _ | 29 take | mark |
| 29 | take | take | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 27 like | xcomp |
| 30 | home | home | ADV | _ | 29 take | advmod |
| 31 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 32 eat | cc |
| 32 | eat | eat | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 29 take | conj |
| 33 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 36 placed | punct |
| 34 | so | so | ADV | _ | 36 placed | advmod |
| 35 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 36 placed | nsubj |
| 36 | placed | place | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 12 took | conj |
| 37 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 40 tail | det |
| 38 | yam | yam | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 tail | compound |
| 39 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 38 yam | punct |
| 40 | tail | tail | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 placed | obj |
| 41 | behind | behind | ADP | _ | 43 tree | case |
| 42 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 43 tree | det |
| 43 | tree | tree | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 placed | obl |
| 44 | where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 48 standing | advmod |
| 45 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 46 father | nmod:poss |
| 46 | father | father | NOUN | Number=Sing | 48 standing | nsubj |
| 47 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 48 standing | aux |
| 48 | standing | stand | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 43 tree | acl:relcl |
| 49 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 52 took | punct |
| 50 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 52 took | cc |
| 51 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 52 took | advmod |
| 52 | took | take | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 12 took | conj |
| 53 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 55 yams | det |
| 54 | remaining | remaining | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 55 yams | amod |
| 55 | yams | yam | NOUN | Number=Plur | 52 took | obj |
| 56 | out | out | ADV | _ | 52 took | advmod |
| 57 | to | to | ADP | _ | 59 people | case |
| 58 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 59 people | det |
| 59 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 52 took | obl |
| 60 | on | on | ADP | _ | 62 farm | case |
| 61 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 62 farm | det |
| 62 | farm | farm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 52 took | obl |
| 63 | to | to | PART | _ | 64 plant | mark |
| 64 | plant | plant | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 52 took | advcl |
| 65 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 12 took | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | put | past · progressive | Eba | the yams | the basket | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent yam=Goal | |||
| 2 | take | past | Eba | a great fancy | one particular yam tail | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent fancy=Theme to tail=Destination | |||
| 3 | think speech: other | past | one particular yam tail | Eba nsubj | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | ||||
| 4 | like | would | Eba | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | |||||
| 5 | take not said to happen | to-infinitive | Eba not said here | home property | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 6 | eat | present | Eba not said here | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 7 | place | past | Eba | the yam tail | the tree | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent tail=Theme behind tree=Destination | |||
| 8 | stand | past · progressive | Eba's father | vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 9 | take | past | Eba not said here | the remaining yams | the people | the farm | then | out property | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent yam=Theme to people=Destination |
| 10 | plant | to-infinitive | Eba not said here | vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: 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/pg70959/12/78/