Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover., sentence 25

He then asked some of the people what had become of her, and they told him that the previous day she had been seen talking to a very powerful ju-ju man, and that if he were wise he would leave his wife alone and go home at once, as his life was probably in danger.

Who acts: Ode, people, Inde, life · What happens: ask, become, tell, see, talk, be · To what, where: some, Ode, Inde, wife · 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 (Ode, people, Inde, life), 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	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 asked	nsubj
2	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	3 asked	advmod
3	asked	ask	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	some	some	DET	PronType=Ind	3 asked	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 people	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 people	det
7	people	people	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 some	nmod
8	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	10 become	nsubj
9	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 become	aux
10	become	become	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	7 people	acl:relcl
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 her	case
12	her	she	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 become	obl
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 told	punct
14	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 told	cc
15	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	16 told	nsubj
16	told	tell	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 asked	conj
17	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	16 told	iobj
18	that	that	SCONJ	_	25 seen	mark
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	21 day	det
20	previous	previous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	21 day	amod
21	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	25 seen	obl:unmarked
22	she	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	25 seen	nsubj
23	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	25 seen	aux
24	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	25 seen	aux:pass
25	seen	see	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	16 told	ccomp
26	talking	talk	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	25 seen	xcomp
27	to	to	ADP	_	34 man	case
28	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	34 man	det
29	very	very	ADV	_	30 powerful	advmod
30	powerful	powerful	ADJ	Degree=Pos	34 man	amod
31	ju	ju	NOUN	Number=Sing	33 ju	compound
32	-	-	PUNCT	_	31 ju	punct
33	ju	ju	NOUN	Number=Sing	34 man	compound
34	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	26 talking	obl
35	,	,	PUNCT	_	44 leave	punct
36	and	and	CCONJ	_	44 leave	cc
37	that	that	SCONJ	_	41 wise	mark
38	if	if	SCONJ	_	41 wise	mark
39	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	41 wise	nsubj
40	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	41 wise	cop
41	wise	wise	ADJ	Degree=Pos	44 leave	advcl
42	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	44 leave	nsubj
43	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	44 leave	aux
44	leave	leave	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 asked	ccomp
45	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	46 wife	nmod:poss
46	wife	wife	NOUN	Number=Sing	44 leave	obj
47	alone	alone	ADV	_	44 leave	advmod
48	and	and	CCONJ	_	49 go	cc
49	go	go	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	44 leave	conj
50	home	home	ADV	_	49 go	advmod
51	at	at	ADP	_	52 once	case
52	once	once	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Mult	49 go	obl
53	,	,	PUNCT	_	60 danger	punct
54	as	as	ADP	_	60 danger	case
55	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	56 life	nmod:poss
56	life	life	NOUN	Number=Sing	60 danger	nsubj
57	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	60 danger	cop
58	probably	probably	ADV	_	60 danger	advmod
59	in	in	ADP	_	60 danger	case
60	danger	danger	NOUN	Number=Sing	49 go	obl
61	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 asked	punct

Pragmatics

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	when	other	roles by
1	ask speech: ask	past	Ode	some of the people		then		vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent some=Recipient clause=Topic
2	become	past · perfect	the people				of Inde	vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient
3	tell speech: assert	past	people		Ode			vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic
4	see	past · perfect · passive		Inde		day		tree rules
5	talk	gerund	Inde not said here				to a powerful ju man	vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to man=Co-Agent
6	is a condition, not said to happen	past	Ode				wise property	tree rules
7	leave	would	Ode	Ode's wife			alone property	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wife=Theme
8	go	infinitive	Ode not said here				home property	vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme at once=Location
9	is	past	Ode's life				as danger; probably property	tree rules

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/pg70959/17/25/

🌲 Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover., sentence 25

The tree

Pragmatics

Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover., sentence 25