Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxi.--why the Head of the Male Goat Smells So Strong., sentence 50
The goat replied that in every town he had visited he had always been paid for anything belonging to him which had been taken, but that in this town the chief had referred him to the dead body of the slave, and as the corpse refused to pay he had butted it with his horns, and the smell seemed to stick to him.
Who acts: goat, corpse, head, smell · What happens: reply, visit, pay, belong, take, refer · To what, where: head, town, that, corpse
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, corpse, head, smell), 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 | 3 replied | nsubj |
| 3 | replied | reply | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 10 visited | mark |
| 5 | in | in | ADP | _ | 7 town | case |
| 6 | every | every | DET | PronType=Tot | 7 town | det |
| 7 | town | town | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 visited | obl |
| 8 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 10 visited | nsubj:pass |
| 9 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 10 visited | aux |
| 10 | visited | visit | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 3 replied | advcl |
| 11 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 15 paid | nsubj:pass |
| 12 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 15 paid | aux |
| 13 | always | always | ADV | PronType=Tot | 15 paid | advmod |
| 14 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 15 paid | aux:pass |
| 15 | paid | pay | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 10 visited | conj |
| 16 | for | for | ADP | _ | 17 anything | case |
| 17 | anything | anything | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Ind | 15 paid | obl |
| 18 | belonging | belong | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 17 anything | acl |
| 19 | to | to | ADP | _ | 20 him | case |
| 20 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 18 belonging | obl |
| 21 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 24 taken | nsubj:pass |
| 22 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 24 taken | aux |
| 23 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 24 taken | aux:pass |
| 24 | taken | take | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 17 anything | acl:relcl |
| 25 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 34 referred | punct |
| 26 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 34 referred | cc |
| 27 | that | that | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 34 referred | nsubj:pass |
| 28 | in | in | ADP | _ | 30 town | case |
| 29 | this | this | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 30 town | det |
| 30 | town | town | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 referred | obl |
| 31 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 32 chief | det |
| 32 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 referred | nsubj:pass |
| 33 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 34 referred | aux |
| 34 | referred | refer | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 3 replied | conj |
| 35 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 34 referred | obj |
| 36 | to | to | ADP | _ | 39 body | case |
| 37 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 39 body | det |
| 38 | dead | dead | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 39 body | amod |
| 39 | body | body | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 referred | obl |
| 40 | of | of | ADP | _ | 42 slave | case |
| 41 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 42 slave | det |
| 42 | slave | slave | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 body | nmod |
| 43 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 48 refused | punct |
| 44 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 48 refused | cc |
| 45 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 48 refused | mark |
| 46 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 47 corpse | det |
| 47 | corpse | corpse | NOUN | Number=Sing | 48 refused | nsubj |
| 48 | refused | refuse | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 replied | conj |
| 49 | to | to | PART | _ | 50 pay | mark |
| 50 | pay | pay | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 48 refused | xcomp |
| 51 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 53 butted | nsubj |
| 52 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 53 butted | aux |
| 53 | butted | butt | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 50 pay | ccomp |
| 54 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 53 butted | obj |
| 55 | with | with | ADP | _ | 57 horns | case |
| 56 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 57 horns | nmod:poss |
| 57 | horns | horn | NOUN | Number=Plur | 53 butted | obl |
| 58 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 62 seemed | punct |
| 59 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 62 seemed | cc |
| 60 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 61 smell | det |
| 61 | smell | smell | NOUN | Number=Sing | 62 seemed | nsubj |
| 62 | seemed | seem | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 replied | parataxis |
| 63 | to | to | PART | _ | 64 stick | mark |
| 64 | stick | stick | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 62 seemed | xcomp |
| 65 | to | to | ADP | _ | 66 him | case |
| 66 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 64 stick | obl |
| 67 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 replied | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | reply speech: assert | past | the goat | vn respond-113 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 2 | visit | past · perfect · passive | head | every town | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Co-Agent | ||||
| 3 | pay | past · perfect · passive | head | for anything; always property | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Asset for anything=Theme | ||||
| 4 | belong | gerund | head | vn attend-107.4-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 5 | take | past · perfect · passive | which nsubj:pass | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | |||||
| 6 | refer | past · perfect · passive | that | this town | to the dead body of the slave; the chief nsubj:pass; head obj | tree rules | |||
| 7 | refuse | past | the corpse | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | |||||
| 8 | not pay | to-infinitive | the corpse not said here | tree rules | |||||
| 9 | butt | past · perfect | head | corpse | with head's horns | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent it=Patient with horn=Instrument | |||
| 10 | seem | past | the smell | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute | |||||
| 11 | stick | to-infinitive | the smell not said here | head | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/15/50/