Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover., sentence 152
Nyambi then said that he treated Chief Oga as a thief, but he took pity on him, and instead of killing him, he gave him his choice whether he would have his eyes put out or have a certain part of his body cut off.
Who acts: Nyambi, eyes, certain part · What happens: say, treat, take, kill, give, have · To what, where: Chief Oga, pity, NYAMBI, choice, OGA · 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, eyes, certain part), 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 | Nyambi | Nyambi | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 said | nsubj |
| 2 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 3 said | advmod |
| 3 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 6 treated | mark |
| 5 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 6 treated | nsubj |
| 6 | treated | treat | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 said | ccomp |
| 7 | Chief | Chief | PROPN | Number=Sing | 8 Oga | compound |
| 8 | Oga | Oga | PROPN | Number=Sing | 6 treated | obj |
| 9 | as | as | ADP | _ | 11 thief | case |
| 10 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 11 thief | det |
| 11 | thief | thief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 treated | obl |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 took | punct |
| 13 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 15 took | cc |
| 14 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 15 took | nsubj |
| 15 | took | take | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 said | conj |
| 16 | pity | pity | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 took | obj |
| 17 | on | on | ADP | _ | 18 him | case |
| 18 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 15 took | obl |
| 19 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 23 killing | punct |
| 20 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 23 killing | cc |
| 21 | instead | instead | ADV | ExtPos=SCONJ | 23 killing | mark |
| 22 | of | of | ADP | _ | 21 instead | fixed |
| 23 | killing | kill | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 15 took | advcl |
| 24 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 23 killing | obj |
| 25 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 27 gave | punct |
| 26 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 27 gave | nsubj |
| 27 | gave | give | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 said | conj |
| 28 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 27 gave | iobj |
| 29 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 30 choice | nmod:poss |
| 30 | choice | choice | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 gave | obj |
| 31 | whether | whether | SCONJ | _ | 34 have | mark |
| 32 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 34 have | nsubj |
| 33 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 34 have | aux |
| 34 | have | have | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 27 gave | advcl |
| 35 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 36 eyes | nmod:poss |
| 36 | eyes | eye | NOUN | Number=Plur | 37 put | nsubj |
| 37 | put | put | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 34 have | xcomp |
| 38 | out | out | ADP | _ | 37 put | compound:prt |
| 39 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 40 have | cc |
| 40 | have | have | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 34 have | conj |
| 41 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 43 part | det |
| 42 | certain | certain | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 43 part | amod |
| 43 | part | part | NOUN | Number=Sing | 47 cut | nsubj |
| 44 | of | of | ADP | _ | 46 body | case |
| 45 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 46 body | nmod:poss |
| 46 | body | body | NOUN | Number=Sing | 43 part | nmod |
| 47 | cut | cut | VERB | Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 40 have | parataxis |
| 48 | off | off | ADP | _ | 47 cut | compound:prt |
| 49 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 said | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | past | Nyambi | then | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | ||||
| 2 | treat | past | NYAMBI | Chief Oga | as a thief | vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent oga=Theme as thief=Attribute | |||
| 3 | take | past | NYAMBI | pity | on OGA | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent pity=Theme on he=Destination | |||
| 4 | kill | gerund | NYAMBI not said here | NYAMBI | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme | ||||
| 5 | give | past | NYAMBI | NYAMBI's choice | OGA | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient choice=Theme | |||
| 6 | have | would | NYAMBI | tree rules | |||||
| 7 | put out | past | NYAMBI's eyes | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 8 | have | infinitive | NYAMBI not said here | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 9 | cut off | past | a certain part of NYAMBI's body | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
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/pg70959/17/152/