Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxi.--why the Head of the Male Goat Smells So Strong., sentence 30
The farmer said he thought the goat had forgotten all about the yam, so he had planted it, but he was willing to pay, so he told one of his wives to bring a ball of camwood, which he gave to the goat.
Who acts: farmer, goat, ball · What happens: say, think, forget, plant, be, pay · To what, where: yam, one, ball, goat · Speech: someone speaks here
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 (farmer, goat, ball), 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 farmer | det |
| 2 | farmer | farmer | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 said | nsubj |
| 3 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 thought | nsubj |
| 5 | thought | think | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 said | ccomp |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 goat | det |
| 7 | goat | goat | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 forgotten | nsubj |
| 8 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 forgotten | aux |
| 9 | forgotten | forget | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 5 thought | ccomp |
| 10 | all | all | ADV | _ | 13 yam | advmod |
| 11 | about | about | ADP | _ | 13 yam | case |
| 12 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 13 yam | det |
| 13 | yam | yam | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 forgotten | obl |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 18 planted | punct |
| 15 | so | so | ADV | _ | 18 planted | advmod |
| 16 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 18 planted | nsubj |
| 17 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 18 planted | aux |
| 18 | planted | plant | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 9 forgotten | parataxis |
| 19 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 18 planted | obj |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 24 willing | punct |
| 21 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 24 willing | cc |
| 22 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 24 willing | nsubj |
| 23 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 24 willing | cop |
| 24 | willing | willing | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 9 forgotten | conj |
| 25 | to | to | PART | _ | 26 pay | mark |
| 26 | pay | pay | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 24 willing | xcomp |
| 27 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 30 told | punct |
| 28 | so | so | ADV | _ | 30 told | advmod |
| 29 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 30 told | nsubj |
| 30 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 said | conj |
| 31 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 30 told | obj |
| 32 | of | of | ADP | _ | 34 wives | case |
| 33 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 34 wives | nmod:poss |
| 34 | wives | wife | NOUN | Number=Plur | 31 one | nmod |
| 35 | to | to | PART | _ | 36 bring | mark |
| 36 | bring | bring | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 30 told | ccomp |
| 37 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 38 ball | det |
| 38 | ball | ball | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 bring | obj |
| 39 | of | of | ADP | _ | 40 camwood | case |
| 40 | camwood | camwood | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 ball | nmod |
| 41 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 44 gave | punct |
| 42 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 44 gave | nsubj |
| 43 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 44 gave | nsubj |
| 44 | gave | give | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 38 ball | acl:relcl |
| 45 | to | to | ADP | _ | 47 goat | case |
| 46 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 47 goat | det |
| 47 | goat | goat | NOUN | Number=Sing | 44 gave | obl |
| 48 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 said | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | past | the farmer | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 2 | think speech: other | past | farmer | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | |||||
| 3 | forget | past · perfect | the goat | about the yam | tree rules | ||||
| 4 | plant | past · perfect | farmer | yam | vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient | ||||
| 5 | is | past | farmer | willing property | tree rules | ||||
| 6 | pay | to-infinitive | farmer not said here | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 7 | tell speech: assert | past | farmer | one of farmer's wives | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent one=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 8 | bring not said to happen | to-infinitive | a ball of camwood | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent ball=Theme | |||||
| 9 | give | past | a ball of camwood | the goat | farmer nsubj | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to goat=Recipient |
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/pg70959/15/30/