Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 49

When the man had gone, the cripple tried to persuade the other witches not to go to the feast, as he said that the people of the town would be certain to revenge themselves upon them for the death of Nara, but the witches did not agree with him, and said that it was impossible for Chief Njum to know that they had killed his wife, as no one had seen them do it, and they did not think he would ask them to a feast if he wished to harm them.

Who acts: man, cripple, people, witches, one, Nara · What happens: go, try, persuade, not go, say, be · To what, where: other witches, feast, witches · 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 (man, cripple, people, 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	SCONJ	_	5 gone	mark
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 man	det
3	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 gone	nsubj
4	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 gone	aux
5	gone	go	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	root	root
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 tried	punct
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 cripple	det
8	cripple	cripple	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 tried	nsubj
9	tried	try	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 gone	parataxis
10	to	to	PART	_	11 persuade	mark
11	persuade	persuade	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 tried	xcomp
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 witches	det
13	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 witches	amod
14	witches	witch	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 persuade	obj
15	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	17 go	advmod
16	to	to	PART	_	17 go	mark
17	go	go	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	11 persuade	advcl
18	to	to	ADP	_	20 feast	case
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 feast	det
20	feast	feast	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 go	obl
21	,	,	PUNCT	_	24 said	punct
22	as	as	SCONJ	_	24 said	mark
23	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	24 said	nsubj
24	said	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 tried	conj
25	that	that	SCONJ	_	33 certain	mark
26	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	27 people	det
27	people	people	NOUN	Number=Plur	33 certain	nsubj
28	of	of	ADP	_	30 town	case
29	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	30 town	det
30	town	town	NOUN	Number=Sing	27 people	nmod
31	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	33 certain	aux
32	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	33 certain	cop
33	certain	certain	ADJ	Degree=Pos	24 said	ccomp
34	to	to	PART	_	35 revenge	mark
35	revenge	revenge	NOUN	Number=Sing	33 certain	advcl
36	themselves	themselves	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	33 certain	obl
37	upon	upon	ADP	_	38 them	case
38	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	24 said	obl
39	for	for	ADP	_	41 death	case
40	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	41 death	det
41	death	death	NOUN	Number=Sing	24 said	obl
42	of	of	ADP	_	43 Nara	case
43	Nara	Nara	PROPN	Number=Sing	41 death	nmod
44	,	,	PUNCT	_	50 agree	punct
45	but	but	CCONJ	_	50 agree	cc
46	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	47 witches	det
47	witches	witch	NOUN	Number=Plur	50 agree	nsubj
48	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	50 agree	aux
49	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	50 agree	advmod
50	agree	agree	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	24 said	ccomp
51	with	with	ADP	_	52 him	case
52	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	50 agree	obl
53	,	,	PUNCT	_	55 said	punct
54	and	and	CCONJ	_	55 said	cc
55	said	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	50 agree	advcl
56	that	that	SCONJ	_	59 impossible	mark
57	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	59 impossible	expl
58	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	59 impossible	cop
59	impossible	impossible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	55 said	ccomp
60	for	for	ADP	_	61 Chief	case
61	Chief	Chief	PROPN	Number=Sing	59 impossible	obl
62	Njum	Njum	PROPN	Number=Sing	61 Chief	flat
63	to	to	PART	_	64 know	mark
64	know	know	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	59 impossible	csubj
65	that	that	SCONJ	_	68 killed	mark
66	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	68 killed	nsubj:pass
67	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	68 killed	aux
68	killed	kill	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	64 know	ccomp
69	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	70 wife	nmod:poss
70	wife	wife	NOUN	Number=Sing	68 killed	obj
71	,	,	PUNCT	_	76 seen	punct
72	as	as	SCONJ	_	76 seen	mark
73	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	74 one	det
74	one	one	NOUN	Number=Sing	76 seen	nsubj
75	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	76 seen	aux
76	seen	see	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	55 said	ccomp
77	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	76 seen	obj
78	do	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	76 seen	ccomp
79	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	78 do	obj
80	,	,	PUNCT	_	85 think	punct
81	and	and	CCONJ	_	85 think	cc
82	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	85 think	nsubj
83	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	85 think	aux
84	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	85 think	advmod
85	think	think	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	50 agree	parataxis
86	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	88 ask	nsubj
87	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	88 ask	aux
88	ask	ask	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	85 think	ccomp
89	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	88 ask	obj
90	to	to	ADP	_	92 feast	case
91	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	92 feast	det
92	feast	feast	NOUN	Number=Sing	88 ask	obl
93	if	if	SCONJ	_	95 wished	mark
94	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	95 wished	nsubj
95	wished	wish	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	88 ask	ccomp
96	to	to	PART	_	97 harm	mark
97	harm	harm	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	95 wished	xcomp
98	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	97 harm	obj
99	.	.	PUNCT	_	5 gone	punct

Pragmatics

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	other	roles by
1	go	past · perfect	the man					vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	try	past	the cripple					vn try-61.1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality
3	persuade not said to happen	to-infinitive	the cripple not said here	the other witches				vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent witch=Patient
4	not go	to-infinitive	the cripple not said here			the feast		vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to feast=Initial_Location
5	say speech: assert	past	man				upon people; for the death of Nara	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
6	is	would	the people of the town				people obl; revenge advcl; certain property	tree rules
7	not agree speech: agree	past · do-support	the witches				with man	vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V PP.co-agent how S»: agent=Agent with he=Co-Agent
8	say speech: assert	past	the witches not said here					vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
9	is	past					for Chief; impossible property	tree rules
10	know	to-infinitive						vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus
11	kill	past · perfect · passive		witches = witch			man's wife obj	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Experiencer wife=Result
12	see	past · perfect	no one	witches = witch				tree rules
13	do	present		feast				vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality
14	not think speech: other	past · do-support	witches = witch					vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
15	ask speech: ask	would	man		witches = witch		to a feast	vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic
16	wish a condition, not said to happen	past	man					vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme
17	harm not said to happen	to-infinitive	man not said here	witches = witch				vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus they=Experiencer
18	die		Nara					nom death «event intransitive»: of=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.

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🌲 Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 49

The tree

Pragmatics

Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 49