Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., sentence 80
They took great care of the little girl, never allowing her to go about by herself, and frequently warned her about the bad ju-ju who lived in the bush and eat people.
Who acts: people, girl, bad ju ju, little girl · What happens: take, not allow, go about, warn, live, eat · To what, where: great care, girl, bush, people
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 (people, girl, bad ju ju, little girl), 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 | 2 took | nsubj |
| 2 | took | take | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | great | great | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 care | amod |
| 4 | care | care | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 took | obj |
| 5 | of | of | ADP | _ | 8 girl | case |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 girl | det |
| 7 | little | little | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 girl | amod |
| 8 | girl | girl | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 care | nmod |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 11 allowing | punct |
| 10 | never | never | ADV | PronType=Neg | 11 allowing | advmod |
| 11 | allowing | allow | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 2 took | advcl |
| 12 | her | she | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 11 allowing | obj |
| 13 | to | to | PART | _ | 14 go | mark |
| 14 | go | go | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 11 allowing | xcomp |
| 15 | about | about | ADV | _ | 14 go | advmod |
| 16 | by | by | ADP | _ | 17 herself | case |
| 17 | herself | herself | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes | 14 go | obl |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 21 warned | punct |
| 19 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 21 warned | cc |
| 20 | frequently | frequently | ADV | _ | 21 warned | advmod |
| 21 | warned | warn | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 2 took | conj |
| 22 | her | she | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 21 warned | obj |
| 23 | about | about | ADP | _ | 28 ju | case |
| 24 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 28 ju | det |
| 25 | bad | bad | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 28 ju | amod |
| 26 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 28 ju | compound |
| 27 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 26 ju | punct |
| 28 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 warned | obl |
| 29 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 30 lived | nsubj |
| 30 | lived | live | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 28 ju | acl:relcl |
| 31 | in | in | ADP | _ | 33 bush | case |
| 32 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 33 bush | det |
| 33 | bush | bush | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 lived | obl |
| 34 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 35 eat | cc |
| 35 | eat | eat | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 30 lived | conj |
| 36 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 35 eat | obj |
| 37 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 took | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | take | past | people | great care of the little girl | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent care=Theme | ||||
| 2 | not allow | gerund | people not said here | girl | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP S»: agent=Causer she=Beneficiary clause=Eventuality | ||||
| 3 | go about not said to happen | to-infinitive | girl not said here | by girl; about property | vn confront-98 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 4 | warn speech: warn | past | people not said here | girl | about the bad ju ju; frequently property | vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP PP.topic»: agent=Agent she=Recipient about ju=Topic | |||
| 5 | live | past | the bad ju ju | the bush | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in bush=Location | ||||
| 6 | eat | present | the bad ju ju not said here | people | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent people=Patient | ||||
| 7 | care | the little girl | nom care «act 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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/14/80/