Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover., sentence 139
When all the people had arrived, the oldest chief of the town stood up, and said, “I have seen to-day what I have never seen before since I was born.
Who acts: people, oldest chief · What happens: arrive, stand up, say, see, not see, bear · To what, where: oldest chief · 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 (people, oldest 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 | When | when | SCONJ | _ | 6 arrived | mark |
| 2 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 4 people | det:predet |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 people | det |
| 4 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 arrived | nsubj |
| 5 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 arrived | aux |
| 6 | arrived | arrive | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 14 stood | advcl |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 6 arrived | punct |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 chief | det |
| 9 | oldest | old | ADJ | Degree=Sup | 10 chief | amod |
| 10 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 stood | nsubj |
| 11 | of | of | ADP | _ | 13 town | case |
| 12 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 13 town | det |
| 13 | town | town | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 chief | nmod |
| 14 | stood | stand | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 15 | up | up | ADP | _ | 14 stood | compound:prt |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 18 said | punct |
| 17 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 18 said | cc |
| 18 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 14 stood | conj |
| 19 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 23 seen | punct |
| 20 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 23 seen | punct |
| 21 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 23 seen | nsubj |
| 22 | have | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 23 seen | aux |
| 23 | seen | see | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 18 said | ccomp |
| 24 | to | to | ADP | _ | 26 day | case |
| 25 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 24 to | punct |
| 26 | day | day | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 seen | obl |
| 27 | what | what | PRON | PronType=Rel | 31 seen | obl |
| 28 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 31 seen | nsubj |
| 29 | have | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 31 seen | aux |
| 30 | never | never | ADV | PronType=Neg | 31 seen | advmod |
| 31 | seen | see | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 23 seen | conj |
| 32 | before | before | SCONJ | _ | 31 seen | advmod |
| 33 | since | since | SCONJ | _ | 36 born | mark |
| 34 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 36 born | nsubj:pass |
| 35 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 36 born | aux:pass |
| 36 | born | bear | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 31 seen | advcl |
| 37 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 14 stood | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | arrive | past · perfect | all people | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 2 | stand up | past | the oldest chief of the town | vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 3 | say speech: assert | past | the oldest chief of the town not said here | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 4 | see in a quote | present · perfect | the oldest chief of the town = chief | day | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | ||||
| 5 | not see in a quote | present · perfect | the oldest chief of the town = chief | what obl | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | ||||
| 6 | bear in a quote | past · passive | the oldest chief of the town = chief | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=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/pg70959/17/139/