Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 81
His father told him that it was most unusual for anyone to return to the farm after the work was over as it was well known that anyone going back might meet some evil thing.
Who acts: father, way, work, anyone · What happens: tell, be, return, know, go back, meet · To what, where: Eba, work, evil thing · 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 (father, way, work, anyone), 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 | His | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 2 father | nmod:poss |
| 2 | father | father | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 told | nsubj |
| 3 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 told | iobj |
| 5 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 9 unusual | mark |
| 6 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 9 unusual | nsubj |
| 7 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 unusual | cop |
| 8 | most | most | ADV | Degree=Sup | 9 unusual | advmod |
| 9 | unusual | unusual | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 told | ccomp |
| 10 | for | for | ADP | _ | 11 anyone | case |
| 11 | anyone | anyone | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Ind | 9 unusual | obl |
| 12 | to | to | PART | _ | 13 return | mark |
| 13 | return | return | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 3 told | ccomp |
| 14 | to | to | ADP | _ | 16 farm | case |
| 15 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 16 farm | det |
| 16 | farm | farm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 return | obl |
| 17 | after | after | SCONJ | _ | 21 over | mark |
| 18 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 19 work | det |
| 19 | work | work | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 over | nsubj |
| 20 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 21 over | cop |
| 21 | over | over | ADV | _ | 13 return | advcl |
| 22 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 26 known | mark |
| 23 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 26 known | nsubj:pass |
| 24 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 26 known | aux:pass |
| 25 | well | well | ADV | Degree=Pos | 26 known | advmod |
| 26 | known | know | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 21 over | advcl |
| 27 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 32 meet | mark |
| 28 | anyone | anyone | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Ind | 32 meet | nsubj |
| 29 | going | go | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 28 anyone | acl |
| 30 | back | back | ADV | _ | 29 going | advmod |
| 31 | might | might | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 32 meet | aux |
| 32 | meet | meet | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 13 return | advcl |
| 33 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 35 thing | det |
| 34 | evil | evil | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 35 thing | amod |
| 35 | thing | thing | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 meet | obj |
| 36 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 told | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | tell speech: assert | past | Eba's father | Eba | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 2 | is | past | way | for anyone; unusual property | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | return not said to happen | to-infinitive | to the farm result | vn convert-26.6.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Patient to farm=Result | |||||
| 4 | is | past | the work | over property | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | know | past · passive | work | well property | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Stimulus | ||||
| 6 | go back | gerund | vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Patient | ||||||
| 7 | meet | might | anyone | some evil thing | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Co-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.
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