Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover., sentence 111
’Nyambi said, “I intend either to take your eyes out, which will prevent your looking at pretty girls any more, or else I will cut a certain part of your body off, which will stop your doing them any harm in the future.”
Who acts: Nyambi, your · What happens: say, intend, take out, prevent, look, cut off · To what, where: eyes, certain part, future · 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 (Nyambi, your), 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 | ’ | ' | PUNCT | _ | 3 said | punct |
| 2 | Nyambi | Nyambi | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 said | nsubj |
| 3 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 7 intend | punct |
| 5 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 7 intend | punct |
| 6 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 7 intend | nsubj |
| 7 | intend | intend | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 said | ccomp |
| 8 | either | either | CCONJ | _ | 10 take | cc:preconj |
| 9 | to | to | PART | _ | 10 take | mark |
| 10 | take | take | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 7 intend | ccomp |
| 11 | your | your | PRON | Case=Gen Person=2 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 12 eyes | nmod:poss |
| 12 | eyes | eye | NOUN | Number=Plur | 10 take | obj |
| 13 | out | out | ADV | _ | 10 take | advmod |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 17 prevent | punct |
| 15 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 17 prevent | nsubj |
| 16 | will | will | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 17 prevent | aux |
| 17 | prevent | prevent | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 10 take | conj |
| 18 | your | your | PRON | Case=Gen Person=2 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 19 looking | nsubj |
| 19 | looking | look | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 17 prevent | advcl |
| 20 | at | at | ADP | _ | 22 girls | case |
| 21 | pretty | pretty | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 22 girls | amod |
| 22 | girls | girl | NOUN | Number=Plur | 19 looking | obl |
| 23 | any | any | ADV | _ | 24 more | advmod |
| 24 | more | more | ADV | Degree=Cmp | 19 looking | advmod |
| 25 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 30 cut | punct |
| 26 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 30 cut | cc |
| 27 | else | else | ADV | _ | 30 cut | advmod |
| 28 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 30 cut | nsubj |
| 29 | will | will | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 30 cut | aux |
| 30 | cut | cut | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 3 said | ccomp |
| 31 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 33 part | det |
| 32 | certain | certain | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 33 part | amod |
| 33 | part | part | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 cut | obj |
| 34 | of | of | ADP | _ | 36 body | case |
| 35 | your | your | PRON | Case=Gen Person=2 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 36 body | nmod:poss |
| 36 | body | body | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 part | nmod |
| 37 | off | off | ADP | _ | 30 cut | compound:prt |
| 38 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 41 stop | punct |
| 39 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 41 stop | nsubj |
| 40 | will | will | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 41 stop | aux |
| 41 | stop | stop | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 30 cut | conj |
| 42 | your | your | PRON | Case=Gen Person=2 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 43 doing | nsubj |
| 43 | doing | do | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 41 stop | ccomp |
| 44 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 43 doing | obj |
| 45 | any | any | DET | PronType=Ind | 46 harm | det |
| 46 | harm | harm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 43 doing | obj |
| 47 | in | in | ADP | _ | 49 future | case |
| 48 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 49 future | det |
| 49 | future | future | NOUN | Number=Sing | 43 doing | obl |
| 50 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 30 cut | punct |
| 51 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 30 cut | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | past | Nyambi | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 2 | intend in a quote | present | Nyambi | vn intend-61.2-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 3 | take out not said to happen, in a quote | to-infinitive | Nyambi not said here | your eyes | out property | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent eye=Theme | |||
| 4 | prevent in a quote | future | which nsubj | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Causer | |||||
| 5 | look in a quote | gerund | your | at pretty girls | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at girl=Theme | ||||
| 6 | cut off in a quote | future | Nyambi | a certain part of your body | else property | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector part=Eventuality | |||
| 7 | stop in a quote | future | which nsubj | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality | |||||
| 8 | do in a quote | gerund | your | eyes = eye | the future | any harm obj | tree rules |
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/pg70959/17/111/