Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxi.--why the Head of the Male Goat Smells So Strong., sentence 25
The goat then asked the people why they grew koko yams, which were poor things to eat, and showed them the big yam he had received from the fighting man from Inde.
Who acts: goat, people, koko yams, play · What happens: ask, grow, be, eat, show, receive · To what, where: people, koko yams, poor things, big yam
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 (goat, people, koko yams, 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 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 goat | det |
| 2 | goat | goat | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 asked | nsubj |
| 3 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 4 asked | advmod |
| 4 | asked | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 people | det |
| 6 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 asked | iobj |
| 7 | why | why | ADV | PronType=Int | 9 grew | advmod |
| 8 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 9 grew | nsubj |
| 9 | grew | grow | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 asked | advcl |
| 10 | koko | koko | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 yams | compound |
| 11 | yams | yam | NOUN | Number=Plur | 9 grew | obj |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 16 things | punct |
| 13 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 16 things | nsubj |
| 14 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 16 things | cop |
| 15 | poor | poor | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 16 things | amod |
| 16 | things | thing | NOUN | Number=Plur | 11 yams | conj |
| 17 | to | to | PART | _ | 18 eat | mark |
| 18 | eat | eat | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 16 things | acl |
| 19 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 21 showed | punct |
| 20 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 21 showed | cc |
| 21 | showed | show | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 asked | conj |
| 22 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 21 showed | obj |
| 23 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 25 yam | det |
| 24 | big | big | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 25 yam | amod |
| 25 | yam | yam | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 showed | obj |
| 26 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 28 received | nsubj |
| 27 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 28 received | aux |
| 28 | received | receive | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 25 yam | acl:relcl |
| 29 | from | from | ADP | _ | 32 man | case |
| 30 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 32 man | det |
| 31 | fighting | fighting | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 man | compound |
| 32 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 28 received | obl |
| 33 | from | from | ADP | _ | 34 Inde | case |
| 34 | Inde | Inde | PROPN | Number=Sing | 32 man | nmod |
| 35 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 asked | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ask speech: ask | past | the goat | the people | then | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent people=Recipient | |||
| 2 | grow | past | people | koko yams and poor things | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location yam=Theme | ||||
| 3 | is a | past | koko yams and poor things | poor things | tree rules | ||||
| 4 | eat | to-infinitive | people not said here | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 5 | show | past | the goat not said here | people | the big yam obj | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent they=Recipient yam=Topic | |||
| 6 | receive | past · perfect | play | the big yam not said here | from the fighting man from Inde | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent yam=Theme from man=Source |
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/pg70959/15/25/