Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 38
His father, in the meantime, had sent to call another chief called Agborleku, who was a very wise man, to consult with him as to what was the best thing to be done.
Who acts: father, chief · What happens: send, call, be, consult, do · To what, where: father, chief, wise man · 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 (father, chief), 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 | His | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 2 father | nmod:poss |
| 2 | father | father | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 sent | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 6 meantime | punct |
| 4 | in | in | ADP | _ | 6 meantime | case |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 meantime | det |
| 6 | meantime | meantime | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 father | conj |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 2 father | punct |
| 8 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 sent | aux |
| 9 | sent | send | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 10 | to | to | PART | _ | 11 call | mark |
| 11 | call | call | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 9 sent | xcomp |
| 12 | another | another | DET | PronType=Ind | 13 chief | det |
| 13 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 call | obj |
| 14 | called | call | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 13 chief | acl |
| 15 | Agborleku | Agborleku | PROPN | Number=Sing | 14 called | xcomp |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 22 man | punct |
| 17 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 22 man | nsubj |
| 18 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 22 man | cop |
| 19 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 22 man | det |
| 20 | very | very | ADV | _ | 21 wise | advmod |
| 21 | wise | wise | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 22 man | amod |
| 22 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 chief | conj |
| 23 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 25 consult | punct |
| 24 | to | to | PART | _ | 25 consult | mark |
| 25 | consult | consult | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 11 call | conj |
| 26 | with | with | ADP | _ | 27 him | case |
| 27 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 25 consult | obl |
| 28 | as | as | ADP | ExtPos=ADP | 34 thing | case |
| 29 | to | to | ADP | _ | 28 as | fixed |
| 30 | what | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 34 thing | nsubj |
| 31 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 34 thing | cop |
| 32 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 34 thing | det |
| 33 | best | good | ADJ | Degree=Sup | 34 thing | amod |
| 34 | thing | thing | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 consult | obl |
| 35 | to | to | PART | _ | 37 done | mark |
| 36 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 37 done | aux:pass |
| 37 | done | do | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 34 thing | acl |
| 38 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 9 sent | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | send | past · perfect · passive | Ogbaja's father and the meantime | tree rules | |||||
| 2 | call | to-infinitive | Ogbaja's father and the meantime not said here | another chief and a wise man | vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent chief=Recipient | ||||
| 3 | call | participle | another chief and a wise man not said here | Agborleku xcomp | vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 4 | is a | past | another chief and a wise man | a wise man | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | consult | to-infinitive | Ogbaja's father and the meantime not said here | with Ogbaja | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent with he=Co-Agent | ||||
| 6 | is | past | as the best thing; what nsubj | tree rules | |||||
| 7 | do | to-infinitive · passive | Ogbaja's father and the meantime not said here | vn act-114-1 «NP V» |
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.
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