Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover., sentence 147
Then ’Nyambi told the people that he had done this thing, and addressed them as follows: “When I married my wife Obim, while she was still in the circumcision house, Chief Oga went to her and tried to persuade her to go to him.
Who acts: Nyambi, thing, circumcision house · What happens: tell, do, address, follow, marry, be · To what, where: people, thing, wife, circumcision house, 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 (Nyambi, thing, circumcision house), 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 | Then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 4 told | advmod |
| 2 | ’ | ' | PUNCT | _ | 1 Then | punct |
| 3 | Nyambi | Nyambi | PROPN | Number=Sing | 4 told | nsubj |
| 4 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 people | det |
| 6 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 told | iobj |
| 7 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 10 done | mark |
| 8 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 10 done | nsubj |
| 9 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 10 done | aux |
| 10 | done | do | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 6 people | acl:relcl |
| 11 | this | this | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 12 thing | det |
| 12 | thing | thing | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 done | obj |
| 13 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 addressed | punct |
| 14 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 15 addressed | cc |
| 15 | addressed | address | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 told | conj |
| 16 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 15 addressed | obj |
| 17 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 18 follows | mark |
| 18 | follows | follow | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 15 addressed | advcl |
| 19 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 23 married | punct |
| 20 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 23 married | punct |
| 21 | When | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 23 married | advmod |
| 22 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 23 married | nsubj |
| 23 | married | marry | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 told | conj |
| 24 | my | my | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 25 wife | nmod:poss |
| 25 | wife | wife | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 married | obj |
| 26 | Obim | Obim | PROPN | Number=Sing | 25 wife | appos |
| 27 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 35 house | punct |
| 28 | while | while | SCONJ | _ | 35 house | mark |
| 29 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 35 house | nsubj |
| 30 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 35 house | cop |
| 31 | still | still | ADV | _ | 35 house | advmod |
| 32 | in | in | ADP | _ | 35 house | case |
| 33 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 35 house | det |
| 34 | circumcision | circumcision | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 house | compound |
| 35 | house | house | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 went | nsubj |
| 36 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 37 Chief | punct |
| 37 | Chief | Chief | PROPN | Number=Sing | 35 house | appos |
| 38 | Oga | Oga | PROPN | Number=Sing | 37 Chief | flat |
| 39 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 23 married | parataxis |
| 40 | to | to | ADP | _ | 41 her | case |
| 41 | her | she | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 39 went | obl |
| 42 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 43 tried | cc |
| 43 | tried | try | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 39 went | conj |
| 44 | to | to | PART | _ | 45 persuade | mark |
| 45 | persuade | persuade | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 43 tried | xcomp |
| 46 | her | she | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 45 persuade | obj |
| 47 | to | to | PART | _ | 48 go | mark |
| 48 | go | go | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 45 persuade | xcomp |
| 49 | to | to | ADP | _ | 50 him | case |
| 50 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 48 go | obl |
| 51 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 told | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | tell speech: assert | past | Nyambi | the people | then | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent people=Recipient | |||
| 2 | do | past · perfect | NYAMBI | this thing | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Eventuality | ||||
| 3 | address | past | Nyambi not said here | people | vn illustrate-25.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Destination | ||||
| 4 | follow | present | Nyambi not said here | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 5 | marry in a quote | past | Nyambi | my wife | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wife=Patient | ||||
| 6 | is in a quote | past | thing | the circumcision house | still | Chief appos | tree rules | ||
| 7 | go in a quote | past | the circumcision house | thing | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to she=Initial_Location | ||||
| 8 | try in a quote | past | the circumcision house not said here | vn try-61.1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | |||||
| 9 | persuade not said to happen, in a quote | to-infinitive | the circumcision house not said here | thing | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent she=Patient clause=Result | ||||
| 10 | go in a quote | to-infinitive | thing not said here | chief | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to he=Initial_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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/17/147/