Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 50
They also said that they had not had a good feed for a long time, so, in spite of the entreaties of the cripple, they decided to go.
Who acts: witches, spite · What happens: say, not have, decide, go, spite · To what, where: good feed, entreaties · 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 (witches, spite), 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 | They | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 said | nsubj |
| 2 | also | also | ADV | _ | 3 said | advmod |
| 3 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 8 had | mark |
| 5 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 8 had | nsubj |
| 6 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 had | aux |
| 7 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 8 had | advmod |
| 8 | had | have | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 3 said | ccomp |
| 9 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 11 feed | det |
| 10 | good | good | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 11 feed | amod |
| 11 | feed | feed | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 had | obj |
| 12 | for | for | ADP | _ | 15 time | case |
| 13 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 15 time | det |
| 14 | long | long | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 15 time | amod |
| 15 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 had | obl |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 29 decided | punct |
| 17 | so | so | ADV | _ | 29 decided | advmod |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 spite | punct |
| 19 | in | in | ADP | _ | 20 spite | case |
| 20 | spite | spite | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 decided | nsubj |
| 21 | of | of | ADP | _ | 23 entreaties | case |
| 22 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 23 entreaties | det |
| 23 | entreaties | entreaty | NOUN | Number=Plur | 20 spite | nmod |
| 24 | of | of | ADP | _ | 26 cripple | case |
| 25 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 26 cripple | det |
| 26 | cripple | cripple | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 entreaties | nmod |
| 27 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 spite | punct |
| 28 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 29 decided | nsubj |
| 29 | decided | decide | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 said | conj |
| 30 | to | to | PART | _ | 31 go | mark |
| 31 | go | go | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 29 decided | xcomp |
| 32 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 said | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | past | witches = witch | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 2 | not have | past · perfect | witches = witch | a good feed | time | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent feed=Patient | |||
| 3 | decide | past | spite of the entreaties of the cripple | witches = witch nsubj | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | ||||
| 4 | go not said to happen | to-infinitive | spite of the entreaties of the cripple not said here | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 5 | spite | the entreaties of the cripple | nom spite «feeling 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.
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