Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxi.--why the Head of the Male Goat Smells So Strong., sentence 9
When the morning came, the goat, missing his beans, guessed that the rat had eaten them, and told him that he must pay for the beans he had stolen.
Who acts: morning, rat · What happens: come, miss, guess, eat, tell, pay · To what, where: goat, beans, rat · 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 (morning, rat), 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 | When | when | SCONJ | _ | 4 came | mark |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 morning | det |
| 3 | morning | morning | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 came | nsubj |
| 4 | came | come | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 13 guessed | advcl |
| 5 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 7 goat | punct |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 goat | det |
| 7 | goat | goat | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 came | obl |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 9 missing | punct |
| 9 | missing | miss | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 4 came | advcl |
| 10 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 11 beans | nmod:poss |
| 11 | beans | bean | NOUN | Number=Plur | 9 missing | obj |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 13 guessed | punct |
| 13 | guessed | guess | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 14 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 18 eaten | mark |
| 15 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 16 rat | det |
| 16 | rat | rat | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 eaten | nsubj |
| 17 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 18 eaten | aux |
| 18 | eaten | eat | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 13 guessed | advcl |
| 19 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 18 eaten | obj |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 22 told | punct |
| 21 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 22 told | cc |
| 22 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 13 guessed | conj |
| 23 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 22 told | iobj |
| 24 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 27 pay | mark |
| 25 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 27 pay | nsubj |
| 26 | must | must | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 27 pay | aux |
| 27 | pay | pay | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 22 told | ccomp |
| 28 | for | for | ADP | _ | 30 beans | case |
| 29 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 30 beans | det |
| 30 | beans | bean | NOUN | Number=Plur | 27 pay | obl |
| 31 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 33 stolen | nsubj |
| 32 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 33 stolen | aux |
| 33 | stolen | steal | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 30 beans | acl:relcl |
| 34 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 13 guessed | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | come | past | the morning | the goat | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 2 | miss | gerund | the morning not said here | rat's beans | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer bean=Stimulus | ||||
| 3 | guess | past | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | ||||||
| 4 | eat | past · perfect | the rat | beans = bean | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient | ||||
| 5 | tell speech: assert | past | rat | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic | |||||
| 6 | pay | must | rat | for the beans | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent for bean=Theme | ||||
| 7 | steal | past · perfect | rat | the beans not said here | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location bean=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/pg70959/15/9/