Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover., sentence 88
This probably saved his life, as the ju-ju man was unable to poison him, so after a time he went to Chief Oga, and told him that the year of ’Nyambi’s death had not yet arrived, and he could do nothing with the young man.
Who acts: This, ju man, NYAMBI · What happens: save, be, poison, go, tell, not arrive · To what, where: life, NYAMBI, Chief, death, nothing · 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 (This, ju man, 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 | This | this | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 3 saved | nsubj |
| 2 | probably | probably | ADV | _ | 3 saved | advmod |
| 3 | saved | save | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 5 life | nmod:poss |
| 5 | life | life | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 saved | obj |
| 6 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 14 unable | punct |
| 7 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 14 unable | mark |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 man | det |
| 9 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 ju | compound |
| 10 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 9 ju | punct |
| 11 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 man | compound |
| 12 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 unable | nsubj |
| 13 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 14 unable | cop |
| 14 | unable | unable | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 saved | advcl |
| 15 | to | to | PART | _ | 16 poison | mark |
| 16 | poison | poison | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 14 unable | xcomp |
| 17 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 16 poison | obj |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 24 went | punct |
| 19 | so | so | ADV | _ | 24 went | advmod |
| 20 | after | after | ADP | _ | 22 time | case |
| 21 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 22 time | det |
| 22 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 went | obl |
| 23 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 24 went | nsubj |
| 24 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 saved | conj |
| 25 | to | to | ADP | _ | 26 Chief | case |
| 26 | Chief | Chief | PROPN | Number=Sing | 24 went | obl |
| 27 | Oga | Oga | PROPN | Number=Sing | 26 Chief | flat |
| 28 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 30 told | punct |
| 29 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 30 told | cc |
| 30 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 saved | conj |
| 31 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 30 told | iobj |
| 32 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 43 arrived | mark |
| 33 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 34 year | det |
| 34 | year | year | NOUN | Number=Sing | 43 arrived | obl:unmarked |
| 35 | of | of | SCONJ | _ | 43 arrived | mark |
| 36 | ’ | ' | PUNCT | _ | 43 arrived | punct |
| 37 | Nyambi | Nyambi | PROPN | Number=Sing | 39 death | nmod:poss |
| 38 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 37 Nyambi | case |
| 39 | death | death | NOUN | Number=Sing | 43 arrived | nsubj:pass |
| 40 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 43 arrived | aux |
| 41 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 43 arrived | advmod |
| 42 | yet | yet | ADV | _ | 43 arrived | advmod |
| 43 | arrived | arrive | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 30 told | ccomp |
| 44 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 48 do | punct |
| 45 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 48 do | cc |
| 46 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 48 do | nsubj |
| 47 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 48 do | aux |
| 48 | do | do | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 43 arrived | conj |
| 49 | nothing | nothing | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Neg | 48 do | obj |
| 50 | with | with | ADP | _ | 53 man | case |
| 51 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 53 man | det |
| 52 | young | young | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 53 man | amod |
| 53 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 48 do | obl |
| 54 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 saved | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | save | past | This | NYAMBI's life | probably property | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent life=Theme | |||
| 2 | is | past | the ju man | unable property | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | poison | to-infinitive | the ju man not said here | NYAMBI | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient | ||||
| 4 | go | past | NYAMBI | Chief | time | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to chief=Initial_Location | |||
| 5 | tell speech: assert | past | This not said here | NYAMBI | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 6 | not arrive | past · perfect · passive | Nyambi's death | yet; year | tree rules | ||||
| 7 | do | could | NYAMBI | nothing | with the young man | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nothing=Eventuality | |||
| 8 | die | Nyambi | nom death «event intransitive»: poss=agent |
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/pg70959/17/88/