Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover., sentence 155
’Nyambi then asked the chiefs whether he was justified in the course he had taken or not; and the chiefs, after consultation, agreed that he had done right.
Who acts: Nyambi, chief · What happens: ask, be, take, agree, do · To what, where: chiefs, course · 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, 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 | ’ | ' | PUNCT | _ | 4 asked | punct |
| 2 | Nyambi | Nyambi | PROPN | Number=Sing | 4 asked | nsubj |
| 3 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 4 asked | advmod |
| 4 | asked | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 27 agreed | advcl |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 chiefs | det |
| 6 | chiefs | chief | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 asked | obj |
| 7 | whether | whether | SCONJ | _ | 10 justified | mark |
| 8 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 10 justified | nsubj |
| 9 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 10 justified | cop |
| 10 | justified | justified | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 asked | ccomp |
| 11 | in | in | ADP | _ | 13 course | case |
| 12 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 13 course | det |
| 13 | course | course | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 justified | obl |
| 14 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 16 taken | nsubj |
| 15 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 16 taken | aux |
| 16 | taken | take | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 13 course | acl:relcl |
| 17 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 18 not | cc |
| 18 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 16 taken | conj |
| 19 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 22 chiefs | punct |
| 20 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 22 chiefs | cc |
| 21 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 22 chiefs | det |
| 22 | chiefs | chief | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 asked | ccomp |
| 23 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 25 consultation | punct |
| 24 | after | after | ADP | _ | 25 consultation | case |
| 25 | consultation | consultation | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 chiefs | conj |
| 26 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 27 agreed | punct |
| 27 | agreed | agree | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 28 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 31 done | mark |
| 29 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 31 done | nsubj |
| 30 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 31 done | aux |
| 31 | done | do | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 27 agreed | ccomp |
| 32 | right | right | ADV | _ | 31 done | advmod |
| 33 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 27 agreed | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ask speech: ask | past | Nyambi | the chiefs | then | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent chief=Recipient | |||
| 2 | is | past | chief | the course | justified property | tree rules | |||
| 3 | take | past · perfect | chief | the course not said here | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent course=Theme | ||||
| 4 | agree speech: agree | past | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | ||||||
| 5 | do | past · perfect | chief | right property | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
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.
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