Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover., sentence 69
The parents, however, were unwilling, and told ’Nyambi that they had already promised Obim as a wife to Chief Oga.
Who acts: parents · What happens: be, tell, promise · To what, where: Nyambi, parents, Obim · 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 (parents), 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 parents | det |
| 2 | parents | parent | NOUN | Number=Plur | 7 unwilling | nsubj |
| 3 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 2 parents | punct |
| 4 | however | however | ADV | _ | 7 unwilling | advmod |
| 5 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 4 however | punct |
| 6 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 unwilling | cop |
| 7 | unwilling | unwilling | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 10 told | punct |
| 9 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 10 told | cc |
| 10 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 unwilling | parataxis |
| 11 | ’ | ' | PUNCT | _ | 12 Nyambi | punct |
| 12 | Nyambi | Nyambi | PROPN | Number=Sing | 10 told | iobj |
| 13 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 17 promised | mark |
| 14 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 17 promised | nsubj:pass |
| 15 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 17 promised | aux |
| 16 | already | already | ADV | _ | 17 promised | advmod |
| 17 | promised | promise | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 10 told | ccomp |
| 18 | Obim | Obim | PROPN | Number=Sing | 17 promised | obj |
| 19 | as | as | ADP | _ | 21 wife | case |
| 20 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 21 wife | det |
| 21 | wife | wife | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 promised | obl |
| 22 | to | to | ADP | _ | 23 Chief | case |
| 23 | Chief | Chief | PROPN | Number=Sing | 21 wife | nmod |
| 24 | Oga | Oga | PROPN | Number=Sing | 23 Chief | flat |
| 25 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 7 unwilling | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | the parents | however, unwilling property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | tell speech: assert | past | Nyambi | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent nyambi=Recipient clause=Topic | |||||
| 3 | promise speech: promise | past · perfect · passive | parents = parent | Obim | as a wife to Chief | vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP.goal NP»: subject=Goal obim=Theme |
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/pg70959/17/69/