Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 79
When the work for the day was finished, and it was time to go home, Chief Alankor called his people together and started off, Eba carrying his father’s bag as usual, but he entirely forgot his yam-tail which he had left behind the tree until they got half way home.
Who acts: work, Chief, Eba, people · What happens: be, go, call, start off, carry, forget · To what, where: time, people, bag, yam tail, tree, way · 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 (work, Chief, Eba, people), 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 | ADV | PronType=Int | 8 finished | advmod |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 work | det |
| 3 | work | work | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 finished | nsubj |
| 4 | for | for | ADP | _ | 6 day | case |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 day | det |
| 6 | day | day | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 work | nmod |
| 7 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 finished | cop |
| 8 | finished | finished | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 13 time | punct |
| 10 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 13 time | cc |
| 11 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 13 time | nsubj |
| 12 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 13 time | cop |
| 13 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 finished | advcl |
| 14 | to | to | PART | _ | 15 go | mark |
| 15 | go | go | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 13 time | acl |
| 16 | home | home | ADV | _ | 15 go | advmod |
| 17 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 18 Chief | punct |
| 18 | Chief | Chief | PROPN | Number=Sing | 20 called | nsubj |
| 19 | Alankor | Alankor | PROPN | Number=Sing | 18 Chief | flat |
| 20 | called | call | VERB | Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 13 time | acl:relcl |
| 21 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 22 people | nmod:poss |
| 22 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 20 called | obj |
| 23 | together | together | ADV | _ | 20 called | advmod |
| 24 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 25 started | cc |
| 25 | started | start | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 20 called | conj |
| 26 | off | off | ADP | _ | 25 started | compound:prt |
| 27 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 28 Eba | punct |
| 28 | Eba | Eba | PROPN | Number=Sing | 40 forgot | nsubj |
| 29 | carrying | carry | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 28 Eba | acl |
| 30 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 31 father | nmod:poss |
| 31 | father | father | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 bag | nmod:poss |
| 32 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 31 father | case |
| 33 | bag | bag | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 carrying | obj |
| 34 | as | as | ADP | _ | 35 usual | case |
| 35 | usual | usual | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 29 carrying | obl |
| 36 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 40 forgot | punct |
| 37 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 40 forgot | cc |
| 38 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 40 forgot | nsubj |
| 39 | entirely | entirely | ADV | _ | 40 forgot | advmod |
| 40 | forgot | forget | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 13 time | advcl |
| 41 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 44 tail | nmod:poss |
| 42 | yam | yam | NOUN | Number=Sing | 44 tail | compound |
| 43 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 42 yam | punct |
| 44 | tail | tail | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 forgot | obj |
| 45 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 48 left | nsubj:pass |
| 46 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 48 left | nsubj |
| 47 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 48 left | aux |
| 48 | left | leave | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 40 forgot | parataxis |
| 49 | behind | behind | ADP | _ | 51 tree | case |
| 50 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 51 tree | det |
| 51 | tree | tree | NOUN | Number=Sing | 48 left | obl |
| 52 | until | until | SCONJ | _ | 54 got | mark |
| 53 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 54 got | nsubj |
| 54 | got | get | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 48 left | advcl |
| 55 | half | half | ADV | NumForm=Word NumType=Frac | 56 way | advmod |
| 56 | way | way | NOUN | Number=Sing | 54 got | obj |
| 57 | home | home | ADV | _ | 56 way | advmod |
| 58 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 8 finished | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | the work for the day | finished property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | is a | past | work | time | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | go | to-infinitive | the work for the day not said here | home property | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 4 | call | past | Chief | time not said here | Eba's people | together property | vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent people=Recipient | ||
| 5 | start off | past | Chief not said here | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | |||||
| 6 | carry | gerund | Eba not said here | Eba's father's bag | as usual | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bag=Theme | |||
| 7 | forget | past | Eba | Eba's yam tail | entirely property | tree rules | |||
| 8 | leave | past · perfect · passive | the tree | which nsubj:pass; Eba nsubj | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Theme behind tree=Location | ||||
| 9 | get | past | people | way | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer way=Stimulus |
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/pg70959/12/79/