Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover., sentence 70
When Obim heard this, she told her parents that she would never marry Chief Oga, as he was too old, and she intended to marry ’Nyambi, who was such a fine young man, and she was very fond of him.
Who acts: Obim, chief, Nyambi · What happens: hear, tell, not marry, be, intend, marry · To what, where: this, parents, Chief, Nyambi, fine young man · 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 (Obim, chief, Nyambi), 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 | When | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 3 heard | advmod |
| 2 | Obim | Obim | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 heard | nsubj |
| 3 | heard | hear | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 told | advcl |
| 4 | this | this | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 3 heard | obj |
| 5 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 3 heard | punct |
| 6 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 7 told | nsubj |
| 7 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 8 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 9 parents | nmod:poss |
| 9 | parents | parent | NOUN | Number=Plur | 7 told | iobj |
| 10 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 14 marry | mark |
| 11 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 14 marry | nsubj |
| 12 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 14 marry | aux |
| 13 | never | never | ADV | PronType=Neg | 14 marry | advmod |
| 14 | marry | marry | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 7 told | xcomp |
| 15 | Chief | Chief | PROPN | Number=Sing | 14 marry | obj |
| 16 | Oga | Oga | PROPN | Number=Sing | 15 Chief | flat |
| 17 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 22 old | punct |
| 18 | as | as | ADP | _ | 22 old | case |
| 19 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 22 old | nsubj |
| 20 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 22 old | cop |
| 21 | too | too | ADV | _ | 22 old | advmod |
| 22 | old | old | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 14 marry | conj |
| 23 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 26 intended | punct |
| 24 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 26 intended | cc |
| 25 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 26 intended | nsubj |
| 26 | intended | intend | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 told | parataxis |
| 27 | to | to | PART | _ | 28 marry | mark |
| 28 | marry | marry | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 26 intended | xcomp |
| 29 | ’ | ' | PUNCT | _ | 30 Nyambi | punct |
| 30 | Nyambi | Nyambi | PROPN | Number=Sing | 28 marry | obj |
| 31 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 38 man | punct |
| 32 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 38 man | nsubj |
| 33 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 38 man | cop |
| 34 | such | such | DET | PronType=Ind | 38 man | det:predet |
| 35 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 38 man | det |
| 36 | fine | fine | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 38 man | amod |
| 37 | young | young | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 38 man | amod |
| 38 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 Nyambi | appos |
| 39 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 44 fond | punct |
| 40 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 44 fond | cc |
| 41 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 44 fond | nsubj |
| 42 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 44 fond | cop |
| 43 | very | very | ADV | _ | 44 fond | advmod |
| 44 | fond | fond | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 26 intended | conj |
| 45 | of | of | ADP | _ | 46 him | case |
| 46 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 44 fond | obl |
| 47 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 7 told | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | hear | past | Obim | this | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer this=Stimulus | ||||
| 2 | tell speech: assert | past | OBIM | OBIM's parents | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent parent=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 3 | not marry not said to happen | would | OBIM | Chief | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent chief=Patient | ||||
| 4 | is | past | chief | old property | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | intend | past | OBIM | vn intend-61.2-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 6 | marry not said to happen | to-infinitive | OBIM not said here | Nyambi | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nyambi=Patient | ||||
| 7 | is a | past | Nyambi | such fine young man | tree rules | ||||
| 8 | is | past | OBIM | of NYAMBI; fond 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/pg70959/17/70/