Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover., sentence 30
The boy also said that by far the best thing Ode could do was to ask his father-in-law to help him to recover his wife, and not to come to Inde himself again.
Who acts: boy, Ode, best thing · What happens: say, do, be, help, recover, not come · To what, where: best thing, Ode, wife, Inde · 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 (boy, Ode, best thing), 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 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 boy | det |
| 2 | boy | boy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 said | nsubj |
| 3 | also | also | ADV | _ | 4 said | advmod |
| 4 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 16 ask | mark |
| 6 | by | by | ADP | _ | 7 far | case |
| 7 | far | far | ADV | Degree=Pos | 10 thing | obl |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 thing | det |
| 9 | best | good | ADJ | Degree=Sup | 10 thing | amod |
| 10 | thing | thing | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 ask | nsubj |
| 11 | Ode | Ode | PROPN | Number=Sing | 13 do | nsubj |
| 12 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 13 do | aux |
| 13 | do | do | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 10 thing | acl:relcl |
| 14 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 16 ask | cop |
| 15 | to | to | PART | _ | 16 ask | mark |
| 16 | ask | ask | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 4 said | ccomp |
| 17 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 22 law | nmod:poss |
| 18 | father | father | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 law | nsubj |
| 19 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 22 law | punct |
| 20 | in | in | ADP | _ | 22 law | case |
| 21 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 20 in | punct |
| 22 | law | law | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 ask | obj |
| 23 | to | to | PART | _ | 24 help | mark |
| 24 | help | help | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 16 ask | advcl |
| 25 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 24 help | obj |
| 26 | to | to | PART | _ | 27 recover | mark |
| 27 | recover | recover | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 24 help | xcomp |
| 28 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 29 wife | nmod:poss |
| 29 | wife | wife | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 recover | obj |
| 30 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 34 come | punct |
| 31 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 34 come | cc |
| 32 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 34 come | advmod |
| 33 | to | to | PART | _ | 34 come | mark |
| 34 | come | come | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | 4 said | conj |
| 35 | to | to | ADP | _ | 36 Inde | case |
| 36 | Inde | Inde | PROPN | Number=Sing | 34 come | obl |
| 37 | himself | himself | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes | 34 come | obl:unmarked |
| 38 | again | again | ADV | _ | 34 come | advmod |
| 39 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 said | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | past | the boy | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 2 | do | could | Ode | the best thing not said here | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Eventuality | ||||
| 3 | is | past | the best thing | Ode's law father obj; ask property | tree rules | ||||
| 4 | help | to-infinitive | the best thing not said here | Ode | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary clause=Theme | ||||
| 5 | recover | to-infinitive | Ode not said here | Ode's wife | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wife=Theme | ||||
| 6 | not come | to-infinitive | the boy not said here | Ode | Inde | again | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to inde=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.
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