Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 55
When Ogbaja saw that all the witches had gone to sleep, he covered them all over, very softly, with dry palm leaves, and, having set fire to them, went out and fastened the door.
Who acts: Ogbaja, witches · What happens: see, go, sleep, cover, have, go out · To what, where: witches, set fire, door · 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 (Ogbaja, 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 | ADV | PronType=Int | 3 saw | advmod |
| 2 | Ogbaja | Ogbaja | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 saw | nsubj |
| 3 | saw | see | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 14 covered | advcl |
| 4 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 9 gone | mark |
| 5 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 7 witches | det:predet |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 witches | det |
| 7 | witches | witch | NOUN | Number=Plur | 9 gone | nsubj |
| 8 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 gone | aux |
| 9 | gone | go | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 3 saw | ccomp |
| 10 | to | to | PART | _ | 11 sleep | mark |
| 11 | sleep | sleep | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 9 gone | advcl |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 3 saw | punct |
| 13 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 14 covered | nsubj |
| 14 | covered | cover | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 15 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 14 covered | obj |
| 16 | all | all | ADV | _ | 17 over | advmod |
| 17 | over | over | ADV | _ | 14 covered | advmod |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 softly | punct |
| 19 | very | very | ADV | _ | 20 softly | advmod |
| 20 | softly | softly | ADV | _ | 14 covered | advmod |
| 21 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 25 leaves | punct |
| 22 | with | with | ADP | _ | 25 leaves | case |
| 23 | dry | dry | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 25 leaves | amod |
| 24 | palm | palm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 leaves | compound |
| 25 | leaves | leaf | NOUN | Number=Plur | 14 covered | obl |
| 26 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 35 went | punct |
| 27 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 35 went | cc |
| 28 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 29 having | punct |
| 29 | having | have | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 35 went | advcl |
| 30 | set | set | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 fire | compound |
| 31 | fire | fire | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 having | obj |
| 32 | to | to | ADP | _ | 33 them | case |
| 33 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 29 having | obl |
| 34 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 35 went | punct |
| 35 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 14 covered | conj |
| 36 | out | out | ADV | _ | 35 went | advmod |
| 37 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 38 fastened | cc |
| 38 | fastened | fasten | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 35 went | conj |
| 39 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 40 door | det |
| 40 | door | door | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 fastened | obj |
| 41 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 14 covered | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | see | past | Ogbaja | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | |||||
| 2 | go | past · perfect | all witches | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 3 | sleep | to-infinitive | all witches not said here | vn snooze-40.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 4 | cover | past | Ogbaja | witches = witch | with dry palm leaves; over, softly property | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent they=Destination with leaf=Theme | |||
| 5 | have | gerund | set fire | witches = witch | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fire=Patient | ||||
| 6 | go out | past | Ogbaja not said here | out property | vn interact-36.6 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 7 | fasten | past | Ogbaja not said here | the door | vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent door=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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