Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 88
The chief became more anxious as it got later, and there were no signs of any of the people he had sent out, so just before midnight he sent eight more slaves with fire-brands, to help in the search.
Who acts: chief, FOOD, signs, Eba · What happens: become, get, be, send out, send, help · To what, where: people, eight more slaves, search
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 (chief, FOOD, signs, 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 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 chief | det |
| 2 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 became | nsubj |
| 3 | became | become | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | more | more | ADV | Degree=Cmp | 5 anxious | advmod |
| 5 | anxious | anxious | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 became | xcomp |
| 6 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 8 got | mark |
| 7 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 8 got | nsubj |
| 8 | got | get | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 anxious | advcl |
| 9 | later | late | ADV | Degree=Cmp | 8 got | advmod |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 13 were | punct |
| 11 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 13 were | cc |
| 12 | there | there | PRON | PronType=Dem | 13 were | expl |
| 13 | were | be | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 became | conj |
| 14 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 15 signs | det |
| 15 | signs | sign | NOUN | Number=Plur | 13 were | nsubj |
| 16 | of | of | ADP | _ | 17 any | case |
| 17 | any | any | DET | PronType=Ind | 15 signs | nmod |
| 18 | of | of | ADP | _ | 20 people | case |
| 19 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 people | det |
| 20 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 17 any | nmod |
| 21 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 23 sent | nsubj |
| 22 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 23 sent | aux |
| 23 | sent | send | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 20 people | acl |
| 24 | out | out | ADP | _ | 23 sent | compound:prt |
| 25 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 31 sent | punct |
| 26 | so | so | ADV | _ | 31 sent | advmod |
| 27 | just | just | ADV | _ | 29 midnight | advmod |
| 28 | before | before | ADP | _ | 29 midnight | case |
| 29 | midnight | midnight | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 sent | obl |
| 30 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 31 sent | nsubj |
| 31 | sent | send | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 became | conj |
| 32 | eight | eight | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 34 slaves | nummod |
| 33 | more | more | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 34 slaves | amod |
| 34 | slaves | slave | NOUN | Number=Plur | 31 sent | obj |
| 35 | with | with | ADP | _ | 38 brands | case |
| 36 | fire | fire | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 brands | compound |
| 37 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 36 fire | punct |
| 38 | brands | brand | NOUN | Number=Plur | 34 slaves | nmod |
| 39 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 41 help | punct |
| 40 | to | to | PART | _ | 41 help | mark |
| 41 | help | help | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 31 sent | advcl |
| 42 | in | in | ADP | _ | 44 search | case |
| 43 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 44 search | det |
| 44 | search | search | NOUN | Number=Sing | 41 help | obl |
| 45 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 became | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | become | past | the chief | anxious property | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient | ||||
| 2 | get | past | FOOD | late property | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer | ||||
| 3 | be | past | no signs of any of the people | there | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 4 | send out | past · perfect | Eba | the people not said here | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent people=Theme | ||||
| 5 | send | past | Eba | eight more slaves | midnight | with fire brands | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent slave=Theme | ||
| 6 | help | to-infinitive | Eba not said here | the search | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: 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/pg70959/12/88/