Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 87
When it became dark, as they did not return, Alankor sent four more slaves after the other two, and told them to search the farm all over for his son, but they did not return either.
Who acts: FOOD, slaves, Alankor · What happens: become, not return, send, tell, search · To what, where: four more slaves, slaves, farm · 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 (FOOD, slaves, Alankor), 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 | 3 became | advmod |
| 2 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 became | nsubj |
| 3 | became | become | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 13 sent | advcl |
| 4 | dark | dark | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 became | xcomp |
| 5 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 10 return | punct |
| 6 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 10 return | mark |
| 7 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 10 return | nsubj |
| 8 | did | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 10 return | aux |
| 9 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 10 return | advmod |
| 10 | return | return | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 3 became | conj |
| 11 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 3 became | punct |
| 12 | Alankor | Alankor | PROPN | Number=Sing | 13 sent | nsubj |
| 13 | sent | send | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 14 | four | four | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 16 slaves | nummod |
| 15 | more | more | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 16 slaves | amod |
| 16 | slaves | slave | NOUN | Number=Plur | 13 sent | obj |
| 17 | after | after | ADP | _ | 20 two | case |
| 18 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 two | det |
| 19 | other | other | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 20 two | amod |
| 20 | two | two | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 13 sent | obl |
| 21 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 23 told | punct |
| 22 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 23 told | cc |
| 23 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 13 sent | conj |
| 24 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 23 told | iobj |
| 25 | to | to | PART | _ | 26 search | mark |
| 26 | search | search | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 23 told | xcomp |
| 27 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 28 farm | det |
| 28 | farm | farm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 search | obj |
| 29 | all | all | ADV | _ | 30 over | advmod |
| 30 | over | over | ADV | _ | 26 search | advmod |
| 31 | for | for | ADP | _ | 33 son | case |
| 32 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 33 son | nmod:poss |
| 33 | son | son | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 search | obl |
| 34 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 39 return | punct |
| 35 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 39 return | cc |
| 36 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 39 return | nsubj |
| 37 | did | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 39 return | aux |
| 38 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 39 return | advmod |
| 39 | return | return | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 23 told | ccomp |
| 40 | either | either | ADV | PronType=Ind | 39 return | advmod |
| 41 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 13 sent | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | become | past | FOOD | dark property | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient | ||||
| 2 | not return | past · do-support | slaves = slave | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 3 | send | past | Alankor | four more slaves | after the other two | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent slave=Theme | |||
| 4 | tell speech: assert | past | Alankor not said here | slaves = slave | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 5 | search not said to happen | to-infinitive | Alankor not said here | the farm | for Eba's son; over property | vn search-35.2 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent farm=Location for son=Theme | |||
| 6 | not return | past · do-support | slaves = slave | either property | 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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/12/87/