Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover., sentence 101
When he thought it was quite safe and no one would see him, he went very quietly to Obim’s house and knocked softly on the door.
Who acts: chief, food, one · What happens: think, be, see, go, knock · To what, where: chief, house, door · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (chief, food, one), 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 | ADV | PronType=Int | 3 thought | advmod |
| 2 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 thought | nsubj |
| 3 | thought | think | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 16 went | advcl |
| 4 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 7 safe | nsubj |
| 5 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 safe | cop |
| 6 | quite | quite | ADV | _ | 7 safe | advmod |
| 7 | safe | safe | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 thought | ccomp |
| 8 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 12 see | cc |
| 9 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 10 one | det |
| 10 | one | one | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 see | nsubj |
| 11 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 12 see | aux |
| 12 | see | see | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 7 safe | conj |
| 13 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 12 see | obj |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 3 thought | punct |
| 15 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 16 went | nsubj |
| 16 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 17 | very | very | ADV | _ | 18 quietly | advmod |
| 18 | quietly | quietly | ADV | _ | 16 went | advmod |
| 19 | to | to | ADP | _ | 22 house | case |
| 20 | Obim | Obim | PROPN | Number=Sing | 22 house | nmod:poss |
| 21 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 20 Obim | case |
| 22 | house | house | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 went | obl |
| 23 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 24 knocked | cc |
| 24 | knocked | knock | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 16 went | conj |
| 25 | softly | softly | ADV | _ | 24 knocked | advmod |
| 26 | on | on | ADP | _ | 28 door | case |
| 27 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 28 door | det |
| 28 | door | door | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 knocked | obl |
| 29 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 16 went | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | think speech: other | past | chief | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 2 | is | past | food | safe property | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | see | would | no one | chief | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus | ||||
| 4 | go | past | chief | Obim's house | quietly property | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to house=Initial_Location | |||
| 5 | knock | past | chief not said here | the door | softly property | vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on door=Location |
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.
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