Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover., sentence 127
The women then asked the chief what was the matter with him, so he pointed to his waist, and said he had great pain there, and was unable to move that part of his body.
Who acts: women, chief · What happens: ask, be, point, say, have, move · To what, where: chief, matter, waist, great pain, part · 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 (women, chief), 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 women | det |
| 2 | women | woman | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 asked | nsubj |
| 3 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 4 asked | advmod |
| 4 | asked | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 chief | det |
| 6 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 asked | obj |
| 7 | what | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 10 matter | nsubj |
| 8 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 10 matter | cop |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 matter | det |
| 10 | matter | matter | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 chief | acl:relcl |
| 11 | with | with | ADP | _ | 12 him | case |
| 12 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 10 matter | nmod |
| 13 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 16 pointed | punct |
| 14 | so | so | ADV | _ | 16 pointed | advmod |
| 15 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 16 pointed | nsubj |
| 16 | pointed | point | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 asked | conj |
| 17 | to | to | ADP | _ | 19 waist | case |
| 18 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 19 waist | nmod:poss |
| 19 | waist | waist | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 pointed | obl |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 22 said | punct |
| 21 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 22 said | cc |
| 22 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 asked | parataxis |
| 23 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 24 had | nsubj |
| 24 | had | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 22 said | ccomp |
| 25 | great | great | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 26 pain | amod |
| 26 | pain | pain | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 had | obj |
| 27 | there | there | ADV | PronType=Dem | 24 had | advmod |
| 28 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 31 unable | punct |
| 29 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 31 unable | cc |
| 30 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 31 unable | cop |
| 31 | unable | unable | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 asked | conj |
| 32 | to | to | PART | _ | 33 move | mark |
| 33 | move | move | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 31 unable | xcomp |
| 34 | that | that | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 35 part | det |
| 35 | part | part | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 move | obj |
| 36 | of | of | ADP | _ | 38 body | case |
| 37 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 38 body | nmod:poss |
| 38 | body | body | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 part | nmod |
| 39 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 asked | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ask speech: ask | past | the women | the chief | then | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent chief=Recipient | |||
| 2 | is a | past | the chief | the matter | with chief | tree rules | |||
| 3 | point | past | chief | chief's waist | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to waist=Recipient | ||||
| 4 | say speech: assert | past | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | ||||||
| 5 | have | past | chief | great pain | there | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pain=Patient | |||
| 6 | is | past | the women not said here | unable property | tree rules | ||||
| 7 | move | to-infinitive | the women not said here | that part of chief's body | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent part=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/pg70959/17/127/