Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxi.--why the Head of the Male Goat Smells So Strong., sentence 19
Next day, hearing there was a big play being held at Inde, and that all the young men who had returned from fighting, were gathered there, he went over, taking his feather with him.
Who acts: big play, young men, play · What happens: be, hold, return, fight, gather, go over · To what, where: big play, Inde, young men, feather
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxi.--why the Head of the Male Goat Smells So Strong.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (big play, young men, play), 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 | Next | next | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 2 day | amod |
| 2 | day | day | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 was | obl:unmarked |
| 3 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 4 hearing | punct |
| 4 | hearing | hearing | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 day | conj |
| 5 | there | there | PRON | PronType=Dem | 6 was | expl |
| 6 | was | be | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 7 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 9 play | det |
| 8 | big | big | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 9 play | amod |
| 9 | play | play | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 was | nsubj |
| 10 | being | be | AUX | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 11 held | aux:pass |
| 11 | held | hold | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 9 play | acl |
| 12 | at | at | ADP | _ | 13 Inde | case |
| 13 | Inde | Inde | PROPN | Number=Sing | 11 held | obl |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 32 went | punct |
| 15 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 32 went | cc |
| 16 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 28 gathered | mark |
| 17 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 20 men | det:predet |
| 18 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 men | det |
| 19 | young | young | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 20 men | amod |
| 20 | men | man | NOUN | Number=Plur | 28 gathered | nsubj:pass |
| 21 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 23 returned | nsubj |
| 22 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 23 returned | aux |
| 23 | returned | return | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 20 men | acl:relcl |
| 24 | from | from | SCONJ | _ | 25 fighting | mark |
| 25 | fighting | fight | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 23 returned | advcl |
| 26 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 men | punct |
| 27 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 28 gathered | aux:pass |
| 28 | gathered | gather | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 32 went | advcl |
| 29 | there | there | ADV | PronType=Dem | 28 gathered | advmod |
| 30 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 28 gathered | punct |
| 31 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 32 went | nsubj |
| 32 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 was | conj |
| 33 | over | over | ADV | _ | 32 went | advmod |
| 34 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 35 taking | punct |
| 35 | taking | take | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 32 went | advcl |
| 36 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 37 feather | nmod:poss |
| 37 | feather | feather | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 taking | obj |
| 38 | with | with | ADP | _ | 39 him | case |
| 39 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 35 taking | obl |
| 40 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 6 was | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | be | past | a big play | there | day | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||
| 2 | hold | gerund · passive | a big play not said here | Inde | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: at inde=Location | ||||
| 3 | return | past · perfect | all young men | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 4 | fight | gerund | all young men not said here | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 5 | gather | past · passive | all young men | there | vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | ||||
| 6 | go over | past | play | over property | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V ADV»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 7 | take | gerund | play not said here | play's feather | with play | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent feather=Theme |
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/pg70959/15/19/