Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 35
When he returned, Chief ’Njum asked him what had become of his mother, but Ogbaja’s heart was so full of grief that he could not answer.
Who acts: Ogbaja, Njum, heart · What happens: return, ask, become, be, not answer · To what, where: Ogbaja · 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 (Ogbaja, Njum, heart), 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 returned | advmod |
| 2 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 returned | nsubj |
| 3 | returned | return | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 asked | advcl |
| 4 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 3 returned | punct |
| 5 | Chief | Chief | PROPN | Number=Sing | 7 Njum | nmod:poss |
| 6 | ’ | 's | PART | _ | 5 Chief | case |
| 7 | Njum | Njum | PROPN | Number=Sing | 8 asked | nsubj |
| 8 | asked | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 9 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 8 asked | iobj |
| 10 | what | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 12 become | nsubj |
| 11 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 12 become | aux |
| 12 | become | become | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 8 asked | ccomp |
| 13 | of | of | ADP | _ | 15 mother | case |
| 14 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 15 mother | nmod:poss |
| 15 | mother | mother | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 become | obl |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 23 full | punct |
| 17 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 23 full | cc |
| 18 | Ogbaja | Ogbaja | PROPN | Number=Sing | 20 heart | nmod:poss |
| 19 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 18 Ogbaja | case |
| 20 | heart | heart | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 full | nsubj |
| 21 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 23 full | cop |
| 22 | so | so | ADV | _ | 23 full | advmod |
| 23 | full | full | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 asked | parataxis |
| 24 | of | of | ADP | _ | 25 grief | case |
| 25 | grief | grief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 full | obl |
| 26 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 30 answer | mark |
| 27 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 30 answer | nsubj |
| 28 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 30 answer | aux |
| 29 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 30 answer | advmod |
| 30 | answer | answer | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 23 full | advcl |
| 31 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 8 asked | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | return | past | Ogbaja | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 2 | ask speech: ask | past | Chief's Njum | Ogbaja | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 3 | become | past · perfect | of Ogbaja's mother; what nsubj | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient | |||||
| 4 | is | past | Ogbaja's heart | of grief; full property | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | not answer speech: assert | could | Ogbaja | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V»: 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/pg70959/14/35/