Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 45
A certain house would be set aside for the witches to sleep in, and they were to be given plenty of tombo to drink, so that they would sleep well.
Who acts: witches · What happens: set, sleep in, give, drink, sleep · To what, where: certain house, witches
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 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 house | det |
| 2 | certain | certain | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 house | amod |
| 3 | house | house | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 set | nsubj:pass |
| 4 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 6 set | aux |
| 5 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 6 set | aux:pass |
| 6 | set | set | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 7 | aside | aside | ADV | _ | 6 set | advmod |
| 8 | for | for | ADP | _ | 10 witches | case |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 witches | det |
| 10 | witches | witch | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 set | obl |
| 11 | to | to | PART | _ | 12 sleep | mark |
| 12 | sleep | sleep | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 10 witches | acl |
| 13 | in | in | ADV | _ | 12 sleep | advmod |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 given | punct |
| 15 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 20 given | cc |
| 16 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 20 given | nsubj |
| 17 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 20 given | aux |
| 18 | to | to | PART | _ | 20 given | mark |
| 19 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 20 given | aux:pass |
| 20 | given | give | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 6 set | conj |
| 21 | plenty | plenty | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 given | obj |
| 22 | of | of | ADP | _ | 23 tombo | case |
| 23 | tombo | tombo | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 plenty | nmod |
| 24 | to | to | PART | _ | 25 drink | mark |
| 25 | drink | drink | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 21 plenty | acl |
| 26 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 31 sleep | punct |
| 27 | so | so | SCONJ | ExtPos=SCONJ | 31 sleep | mark |
| 28 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 27 so | fixed |
| 29 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 31 sleep | nsubj |
| 30 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 31 sleep | aux |
| 31 | sleep | sleep | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 20 given | advcl |
| 32 | well | well | ADV | Degree=Pos | 31 sleep | advmod |
| 33 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 6 set | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | set | would · passive | a certain house | for the witches; aside property | vn preparing-26.3-2 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: subject=Patient for witch=Beneficiary | ||||
| 2 | sleep in | to-infinitive | vn snooze-40.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||||
| 3 | give | past · passive | witches = witch | plenty of tombo obj | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Recipient plenty=Theme | ||||
| 4 | drink | to-infinitive | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||||
| 5 | sleep | would | witches = witch | well property | vn snooze-40.4-1 «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/pg70959/14/45/