Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover., sentence 87

The next day, the ju-ju man joined the society to which ’Nyambi belonged, and went to all the dances, looking for an opportunity to put the poison he had prepared into ’Nyambi’s drink, but he could never succeed in making ’Nyambi drink anything, as, whenever he went to a dance or a play, Obim made him promise not to drink anything at the dancing place and she would have drink ready for him when he returned home.

Who acts: ju man, Nyambi, Obim · What happens: join, belong, go, look, put, prepare · To what, where: society, dances, poison, drink, Nyambi, anything · 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 (ju man, Nyambi, Obim), 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	3 day	det
2	next	next	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 day	amod
3	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 joined	obl:unmarked
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	3 day	punct
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 man	det
6	ju	ju	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 ju	compound
7	-	-	PUNCT	_	6 ju	punct
8	ju	ju	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 man	compound
9	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 joined	nsubj
10	joined	join	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 society	det
12	society	society	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 joined	obj
13	to	to	ADP	_	14 which	case
14	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	17 belonged	obl
15	’	'	PUNCT	_	17 belonged	punct
16	Nyambi	Nyambi	PROPN	Number=Sing	17 belonged	nsubj
17	belonged	belong	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	12 society	acl:relcl
18	,	,	PUNCT	_	20 went	punct
19	and	and	CCONJ	_	20 went	cc
20	went	go	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 joined	conj
21	to	to	ADP	_	24 dances	case
22	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	24 dances	det:predet
23	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	24 dances	det
24	dances	dance	NOUN	Number=Plur	20 went	obl
25	,	,	PUNCT	_	26 looking	punct
26	looking	look	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	20 went	advcl
27	for	for	ADP	_	29 opportunity	case
28	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	29 opportunity	det
29	opportunity	opportunity	NOUN	Number=Sing	26 looking	obl
30	to	to	PART	_	31 put	mark
31	put	put	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	29 opportunity	acl
32	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	33 poison	det
33	poison	poison	NOUN	Number=Sing	31 put	obj
34	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	36 prepared	nsubj
35	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	36 prepared	aux
36	prepared	prepare	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	33 poison	acl:relcl
37	into	into	ADP	_	41 drink	case
38	’	'	PUNCT	_	41 drink	punct
39	Nyambi	Nyambi	PROPN	Number=Sing	41 drink	nmod:poss
40	’s	's	PART	_	39 Nyambi	case
41	drink	drink	NOUN	Number=Sing	31 put	obl
42	,	,	PUNCT	_	47 succeed	punct
43	but	but	CCONJ	_	47 succeed	cc
44	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	47 succeed	nsubj
45	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	47 succeed	aux
46	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	47 succeed	advmod
47	succeed	succeed	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	10 joined	conj
48	in	in	SCONJ	_	49 making	mark
49	making	make	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	47 succeed	advcl
50	’	'	PUNCT	_	51 Nyambi	punct
51	Nyambi	Nyambi	PROPN	Number=Sing	49 making	obj
52	drink	drink	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	49 making	xcomp
53	anything	anything	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	52 drink	obj
54	,	,	PUNCT	_	59 went	punct
55	as	as	SCONJ	_	59 went	mark
56	,	,	PUNCT	_	59 went	punct
57	whenever	whenever	ADV	PronType=Rel	59 went	advmod
58	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	59 went	nsubj
59	went	go	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	47 succeed	conj
60	to	to	ADP	_	62 dance	case
61	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	62 dance	det
62	dance	dance	NOUN	Number=Sing	59 went	obl
63	or	or	CCONJ	_	65 play	cc
64	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	65 play	det
65	play	play	NOUN	Number=Sing	62 dance	conj
66	,	,	PUNCT	_	68 made	punct
67	Obim	Obim	PROPN	Number=Sing	68 made	nsubj
68	made	make	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 joined	conj
69	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	68 made	obj
70	promise	promise	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	68 made	xcomp
71	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	73 drink	advmod
72	to	to	PART	_	73 drink	mark
73	drink	drink	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	70 promise	ccomp
74	anything	anything	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	73 drink	obj
75	at	at	ADP	_	78 place	case
76	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	78 place	det
77	dancing	dancing	NOUN	Number=Sing	78 place	compound
78	place	place	NOUN	Number=Sing	73 drink	obl
79	and	and	CCONJ	_	82 have	cc
80	she	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	82 have	nsubj
81	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	82 have	aux
82	have	have	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	68 made	conj
83	drink	drink	NOUN	Number=Sing	82 have	obj
84	ready	ready	ADJ	Degree=Pos	82 have	xcomp
85	for	for	ADP	_	86 him	case
86	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	84 ready	obl
87	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	89 returned	advmod
88	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	89 returned	nsubj
89	returned	return	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	84 ready	advcl
90	home	home	ADV	_	89 returned	advmod
91	.	.	PUNCT	_	10 joined	punct

Pragmatics

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	join	past	the ju man	the society		day		vn mix-22.1-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent society=Patient
2	belong	past	Nyambi				to the society	vn attend-107.4-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme
3	go	past	the ju man not said here		all dances			vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to dance=Initial_Location
4	look	gerund	the ju man not said here				for a opportunity	vn rummage-35.5 «NP V PP.location PP.theme»: agent=Agent for opportunity=Theme
5	put	to-infinitive	the ju man not said here	the poison	Nyambi's drink			vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent poison=Goal
6	prepare	past · perfect	NYAMBI	the poison not said here				vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent poison=Patient
7	not succeed	could	NYAMBI					vn succeed-74-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
8	make	gerund	NYAMBI not said here	Nyambi				tree rules
9	drink	infinitive	Nyambi not said here	anything				vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent anything=Patient
10	go	past	NYAMBI		a dance or a play		whenever property	vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to dance=Initial_Location
11	make	past	Obim	NYAMBI				tree rules
12	promise speech: promise	infinitive	NYAMBI not said here					vn promise-37.13 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
13	not drink not said to happen	to-infinitive		anything	the dancing place			vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent anything=Patient
14	have	would	OBIM	drink			ready property	vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent drink=Patient
15	return	past	NYAMBI				home property	vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=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/pg70959/17/87/

🌲 Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover., sentence 87

The tree

Pragmatics

Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover., sentence 87