Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 86
Soon after they reached the house, food was brought for the chief, but he could not eat anything as he was anxious about his favourite son, and was expecting him to return with the two slaves every minute.
Who acts: slaves, house, Eba · What happens: reach, bring, not eat, be, expect, return · To what, where: house, food, anything, Eba
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 (slaves, house, Eba), 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 | Soon | soon | ADV | Degree=Pos | 4 reached | advmod |
| 2 | after | after | SCONJ | _ | 4 reached | mark |
| 3 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 reached | nsubj |
| 4 | reached | reach | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 house | det |
| 6 | house | house | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 reached | obj |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 10 brought | punct |
| 8 | food | food | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 brought | nsubj:pass |
| 9 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 10 brought | aux:pass |
| 10 | brought | bring | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 6 house | acl |
| 11 | for | for | ADP | _ | 13 chief | case |
| 12 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 13 chief | det |
| 13 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 brought | obl |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 19 eat | punct |
| 15 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 19 eat | cc |
| 16 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 19 eat | nsubj |
| 17 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 19 eat | aux |
| 18 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 19 eat | advmod |
| 19 | eat | eat | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | 4 reached | conj |
| 20 | anything | anything | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Ind | 19 eat | obj |
| 21 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 24 anxious | mark |
| 22 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 24 anxious | nsubj |
| 23 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 24 anxious | cop |
| 24 | anxious | anxious | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 19 eat | advcl |
| 25 | about | about | ADP | _ | 28 son | case |
| 26 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 28 son | nmod:poss |
| 27 | favourite | favourite | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 28 son | amod |
| 28 | son | son | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 anxious | obl |
| 29 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 32 expecting | punct |
| 30 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 32 expecting | cc |
| 31 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 32 expecting | aux |
| 32 | expecting | expect | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 4 reached | advcl |
| 33 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 32 expecting | obj |
| 34 | to | to | PART | _ | 35 return | mark |
| 35 | return | return | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 32 expecting | xcomp |
| 36 | with | with | ADP | _ | 39 slaves | case |
| 37 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 39 slaves | det |
| 38 | two | two | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 39 slaves | nummod |
| 39 | slaves | slave | NOUN | Number=Plur | 35 return | obl |
| 40 | every | every | DET | PronType=Tot | 41 minute | det |
| 41 | minute | minute | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 return | obl:unmarked |
| 42 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 reached | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | reach | past | slaves = slave | the house | soon property | vn body_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent house=Theme | |||
| 2 | bring | past · passive | the house not said here | food | for the chief | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: subject=Theme | |||
| 3 | not eat | could | Eba | anything | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent anything=Patient | ||||
| 4 | is | past | Eba | about Eba's favourite son; anxious property | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | expect | past · progressive | slaves = slave not said here | Eba | tree rules | ||||
| 6 | return not said to happen | to-infinitive | Eba not said here | minute | with the two slaves | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
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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