Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 103
She then asked some of the people why they did not go back home; so they told her that the only way was to climb up and cut the heart and liver out of the drum, but they could not do that as they had no matchets or knives.
Who acts: way, people, only way · What happens: ask, not go back, tell, be, cut, not do · To what, where: way, heart, drum, that, matchets · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (way, people, only way), 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 | She | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 asked | nsubj |
| 2 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 3 asked | advmod |
| 3 | asked | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 8 why | nsubj |
| 5 | of | of | ADP | _ | 7 people | case |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 people | det |
| 7 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 some | nmod |
| 8 | why | why | ADV | PronType=Int | 3 asked | parataxis |
| 9 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 12 go | nsubj |
| 10 | did | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 12 go | aux |
| 11 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 12 go | advmod |
| 12 | go | go | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 8 why | ccomp |
| 13 | back | back | ADV | _ | 14 home | advmod |
| 14 | home | home | ADV | _ | 12 go | advmod |
| 15 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 18 told | punct |
| 16 | so | so | ADV | _ | 18 told | advmod |
| 17 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 18 told | nsubj |
| 18 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 asked | conj |
| 19 | her | she | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 18 told | iobj |
| 20 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 26 climb | mark |
| 21 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 23 way | det |
| 22 | only | only | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 23 way | amod |
| 23 | way | way | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 climb | nsubj |
| 24 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 26 climb | cop |
| 25 | to | to | PART | _ | 26 climb | mark |
| 26 | climb | climb | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 18 told | xcomp |
| 27 | up | up | ADP | _ | 26 climb | compound:prt |
| 28 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 29 cut | cc |
| 29 | cut | cut | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 26 climb | conj |
| 30 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 31 heart | det |
| 31 | heart | heart | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 cut | obj |
| 32 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 33 liver | cc |
| 33 | liver | liver | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 heart | conj |
| 34 | out | out | ADP | _ | 37 drum | case |
| 35 | of | of | ADP | _ | 37 drum | case |
| 36 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 37 drum | det |
| 37 | drum | drum | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 cut | obl |
| 38 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 43 do | punct |
| 39 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 43 do | cc |
| 40 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 43 do | nsubj |
| 41 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 43 do | aux |
| 42 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 43 do | advmod |
| 43 | do | do | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 3 asked | conj |
| 44 | that | that | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 43 do | obj |
| 45 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 47 had | mark |
| 46 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 47 had | nsubj |
| 47 | had | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 43 do | advcl |
| 48 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 49 matchets | det |
| 49 | matchets | matchet | NOUN | Number=Plur | 47 had | obj |
| 50 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 51 knives | cc |
| 51 | knives | knife | NOUN | Number=Plur | 49 matchets | conj |
| 52 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 asked | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ask speech: ask | past | way | then | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 2 | not go back | past · do-support | people | home property | vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Patient | ||||
| 3 | tell speech: assert | past | people | way | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent she=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 4 | is not said to happen | past | the only way | climb property | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | cut | infinitive | the only way not said here | the heart and liver | the drum | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset heart=Product | |||
| 6 | not do | could | people | that | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent that=Eventuality | ||||
| 7 | have | past | people | no matchets or knives | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent matchet=Patient |
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/pg70959/14/103/