Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 24
When they had finished, they told him they were going to the stream to get water and would return to him later.
Who acts: witches · What happens: finish, tell, go, get, return · To what, where: man, stream, water · 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 (witches), 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 | 4 finished | advmod |
| 2 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 finished | nsubj |
| 3 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 finished | aux |
| 4 | finished | finish | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 7 told | advcl |
| 5 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 4 finished | punct |
| 6 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 7 told | nsubj |
| 7 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 8 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 7 told | iobj |
| 9 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 11 going | nsubj |
| 10 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 11 going | aux |
| 11 | going | go | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 7 told | ccomp |
| 12 | to | to | ADP | _ | 14 stream | case |
| 13 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 stream | det |
| 14 | stream | stream | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 going | obl |
| 15 | to | to | PART | _ | 16 get | mark |
| 16 | get | get | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 11 going | advcl |
| 17 | water | water | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 get | obj |
| 18 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 20 return | cc |
| 19 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 20 return | aux |
| 20 | return | return | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 16 get | conj |
| 21 | to | to | ADP | _ | 22 him | case |
| 22 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 20 return | obl |
| 23 | later | late | ADV | Degree=Cmp | 20 return | advmod |
| 24 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 7 told | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | finish | past · perfect | witches = witch | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | |||||
| 2 | tell speech: assert | past | witches = witch | man | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 3 | go | past · progressive | witches = witch | the stream | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to stream=Initial_Location | ||||
| 4 | get | to-infinitive | witches = witch not said here | water | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer water=Stimulus | ||||
| 5 | return | would | witches = witch not said here | man | late property | vn convert-26.6.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Patient to he=Result |
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/pg70959/14/24/