Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 1, sentence 10
So one day Oga went to Abang and asked him to change skins with him for a short while, as he would like to know what it felt like to be as strong and handsome as Abang was.
Who acts: Oga, company · What happens: go, ask, change, be, know, feel · To what, where: Abang, Oga, skins · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Oga, company), 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 | So | so | ADV | _ | 5 went | advmod |
| 2 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 3 day | nummod |
| 3 | day | day | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 went | obl:unmarked |
| 4 | Oga | Oga | PROPN | Number=Sing | 5 went | nsubj |
| 5 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | to | to | ADP | _ | 7 Abang | case |
| 7 | Abang | Abang | PROPN | Number=Sing | 5 went | obl |
| 8 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 9 asked | cc |
| 9 | asked | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 went | conj |
| 10 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 9 asked | iobj |
| 11 | to | to | PART | _ | 12 change | mark |
| 12 | change | change | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 9 asked | xcomp |
| 13 | skins | skin | NOUN | Number=Plur | 12 change | obj |
| 14 | with | with | ADP | _ | 15 him | case |
| 15 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 12 change | obl |
| 16 | for | for | ADP | _ | 19 while | case |
| 17 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 19 while | det |
| 18 | short | short | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 19 while | amod |
| 19 | while | while | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 change | obl |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 24 like | punct |
| 21 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 24 like | mark |
| 22 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 24 like | nsubj |
| 23 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 24 like | aux |
| 24 | like | like | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 12 change | conj |
| 25 | to | to | PART | _ | 26 know | mark |
| 26 | know | know | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 24 like | xcomp |
| 27 | what | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 29 felt | obj |
| 28 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 29 felt | nsubj |
| 29 | felt | feel | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 26 know | ccomp |
| 30 | like | like | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 29 felt | ccomp |
| 31 | to | to | PART | _ | 34 strong | mark |
| 32 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 34 strong | cop |
| 33 | as | as | ADV | _ | 34 strong | advmod |
| 34 | strong | strong | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 30 like | ccomp |
| 35 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 36 handsome | cc |
| 36 | handsome | handsome | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 34 strong | conj |
| 37 | as | as | ADP | _ | 38 Abang | case |
| 38 | Abang | Abang | PROPN | Number=Sing | 34 strong | obl |
| 39 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 24 like | cop |
| 40 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 went | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | go | past | Oga | Abang | day | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to abang=Initial_Location | |||
| 2 | ask speech: ask | past | Oga not said here | Oga | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 3 | change not said to happen | to-infinitive | Oga not said here | skins | while | with Oga | vn exchange-13.6.1 «NP V NP PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent skin=Theme with he=Co-Agent | ||
| 4 | is | would | Oga | like property | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | know not said to happen | to-infinitive | Oga not said here | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | |||||
| 6 | feel | past | company | what obj | tree rules | ||||
| 7 | like | infinitive | company not said here | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot | |||||
| 8 | is not said to happen | to-infinitive | company not said here | as Abang; strong property | tree rules | ||||
| 9 | be | company not said here | 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/pg70959/18/10/