Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 48
When they were completed, a man was sent to the eight witches with a message from Chief ’Njum, that he would like the people who had been turned out of the town to take part in the big feast he was giving in honour of his dead wife.
Who acts: man · What happens: complete, send, like, turn out, take, give · To what, where: preparations, man, eight witches, people, town, part
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 (man), 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 completed | advmod |
| 2 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 completed | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 completed | aux:pass |
| 4 | completed | complete | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 5 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 9 sent | punct |
| 6 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 7 man | det |
| 7 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 sent | nsubj:pass |
| 8 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 sent | aux:pass |
| 9 | sent | send | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 4 completed | conj |
| 10 | to | to | ADP | _ | 13 witches | case |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 13 witches | det |
| 12 | eight | eight | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 13 witches | nummod |
| 13 | witches | witch | NOUN | Number=Plur | 9 sent | obl |
| 14 | with | with | ADP | _ | 16 message | case |
| 15 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 16 message | det |
| 16 | message | message | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 witches | nmod |
| 17 | from | from | ADP | _ | 20 Njum | case |
| 18 | Chief | Chief | PROPN | Number=Sing | 20 Njum | nmod:poss |
| 19 | ’ | 's | PART | _ | 18 Chief | case |
| 20 | Njum | Njum | PROPN | Number=Sing | 16 message | nmod |
| 21 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 25 like | punct |
| 22 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 25 like | mark |
| 23 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 25 like | nsubj |
| 24 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 25 like | aux |
| 25 | like | like | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 9 sent | advcl |
| 26 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 27 people | det |
| 27 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 25 like | obj |
| 28 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 31 turned | nsubj |
| 29 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 31 turned | aux |
| 30 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 31 turned | aux:pass |
| 31 | turned | turn | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 27 people | acl:relcl |
| 32 | out | out | ADP | _ | 35 town | case |
| 33 | of | of | ADP | _ | 35 town | case |
| 34 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 35 town | det |
| 35 | town | town | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 turned | obl |
| 36 | to | to | PART | _ | 37 take | mark |
| 37 | take | take | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 31 turned | advcl |
| 38 | part | part | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 take | obj |
| 39 | in | in | ADP | _ | 42 feast | case |
| 40 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 42 feast | det |
| 41 | big | big | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 42 feast | amod |
| 42 | feast | feast | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 take | obl |
| 43 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 45 giving | nsubj |
| 44 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 45 giving | aux |
| 45 | giving | give | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 42 feast | acl:relcl |
| 46 | in | in | ADP | _ | 47 honour | case |
| 47 | honour | honour | NOUN | Number=Sing | 45 giving | obl |
| 48 | of | of | ADP | _ | 51 wife | case |
| 49 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 51 wife | nmod:poss |
| 50 | dead | dead | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 51 wife | amod |
| 51 | wife | wife | NOUN | Number=Sing | 47 honour | nmod |
| 52 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 completed | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | complete | past · passive | preparations = preparation | vn complete-55.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality | |||||
| 2 | send | past · passive | a man | the eight witches with a message from Chief's Njum | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme to witch=Destination | ||||
| 3 | like | would | man | the people | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot people=Theme | ||||
| 4 | turn out | past · perfect · passive | the people | the town | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | take | to-infinitive | part | the big feast | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent part=Value in feast=Location | ||||
| 6 | give | past · progressive | man | the big feast not said here | honour of Njum's dead wife | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent feast=Theme | |||
| 7 | honour | Njum's dead wife | nom honour «state transitive»: of=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/pg70959/14/48/