Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxiii.--why Edidor Killed Her Husband and Her Lover., sentence 97
But Obim told the messenger to tell his master that she could not come to him, but that he might come to her alone at night, and he was to be careful not to let anyone know what was going on between them.
Who acts: Obim, messenger, NYAMBI, anyone · What happens: tell, not come, come, be, not let, know · To what, where: messenger, master, NYAMBI, OBIM, anyone · 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, messenger, NYAMBI, anyone), 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 | But | but | CCONJ | _ | 3 told | cc |
| 2 | Obim | Obim | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 told | nsubj |
| 3 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 messenger | det |
| 5 | messenger | messenger | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 told | obj |
| 6 | to | to | PART | _ | 7 tell | mark |
| 7 | tell | tell | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 3 told | xcomp |
| 8 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 9 master | nmod:poss |
| 9 | master | master | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 tell | obj |
| 10 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 14 come | mark |
| 11 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 14 come | nsubj |
| 12 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 14 come | aux |
| 13 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 14 come | advmod |
| 14 | come | come | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 7 tell | ccomp |
| 15 | to | to | ADP | _ | 16 him | case |
| 16 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 14 come | obl |
| 17 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 22 come | punct |
| 18 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 22 come | cc |
| 19 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 22 come | mark |
| 20 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 22 come | nsubj |
| 21 | might | might | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 22 come | aux |
| 22 | come | come | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 7 tell | conj |
| 23 | to | to | ADP | _ | 24 her | case |
| 24 | her | she | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 22 come | obl |
| 25 | alone | alone | ADV | _ | 22 come | advmod |
| 26 | at | at | ADP | _ | 27 night | case |
| 27 | night | night | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 come | obl |
| 28 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 34 careful | punct |
| 29 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 34 careful | cc |
| 30 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 34 careful | nsubj |
| 31 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 34 careful | cop |
| 32 | to | to | PART | _ | 34 careful | mark |
| 33 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 34 careful | cop |
| 34 | careful | careful | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 told | conj |
| 35 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 37 let | advmod |
| 36 | to | to | PART | _ | 37 let | mark |
| 37 | let | let | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | 34 careful | parataxis |
| 38 | anyone | anyone | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Ind | 37 let | obj |
| 39 | know | know | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 37 let | xcomp |
| 40 | what | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 42 going | nsubj |
| 41 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 42 going | aux |
| 42 | going | go | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 39 know | ccomp |
| 43 | on | on | ADP | _ | 42 going | compound:prt |
| 44 | between | between | ADP | _ | 45 them | case |
| 45 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 42 going | obl |
| 46 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 told | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | tell speech: assert | past | Obim | the messenger | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent messenger=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 2 | tell speech: assert not said to happen | to-infinitive | the messenger not said here | NYAMBI's master | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent master=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 3 | not come | could | OBIM | NYAMBI | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to he=Initial_Location | ||||
| 4 | come | might | NYAMBI | OBIM | night | alone property | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to she=Initial_Location | ||
| 5 | is | past | NYAMBI | careful property | tree rules | ||||
| 6 | not let | to-infinitive | anyone | tree rules | |||||
| 7 | know | infinitive | anyone not said here | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | |||||
| 8 | go on | past · progressive | between presents = present; what nsubj | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme between they=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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/17/97/