Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 1, sentence 12
After he had flattered Abang for some time, he took off his skin and placed it on the ground and asked Abang to do the same so that they could change skins for a short time.
Who acts: Oga, Abang · What happens: flatter, take off, place, ask, do, change · To what, where: Abang, skin, mind, ground, same, skins
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, Abang), 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 | After | after | SCONJ | _ | 4 flattered | mark |
| 2 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 flattered | nsubj |
| 3 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 flattered | aux |
| 4 | flattered | flatter | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 11 took | advcl |
| 5 | Abang | Abang | PROPN | Number=Sing | 4 flattered | obj |
| 6 | for | for | ADP | _ | 8 time | case |
| 7 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 8 time | det |
| 8 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 flattered | obl |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 4 flattered | punct |
| 10 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 11 took | nsubj |
| 11 | took | take | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 12 | off | off | ADP | _ | 11 took | compound:prt |
| 13 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 14 skin | nmod:poss |
| 14 | skin | skin | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 took | obj |
| 15 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 16 placed | cc |
| 16 | placed | place | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 11 took | conj |
| 17 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 16 placed | obj |
| 18 | on | on | ADP | _ | 20 ground | case |
| 19 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 ground | det |
| 20 | ground | ground | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 placed | obl |
| 21 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 22 asked | cc |
| 22 | asked | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 11 took | conj |
| 23 | Abang | Abang | PROPN | Number=Sing | 22 asked | iobj |
| 24 | to | to | PART | _ | 25 do | mark |
| 25 | do | do | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 22 asked | xcomp |
| 26 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 27 same | det |
| 27 | same | same | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 25 do | obj |
| 28 | so | so | SCONJ | ExtPos=SCONJ | 32 change | mark |
| 29 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 28 so | fixed |
| 30 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 32 change | nsubj |
| 31 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 32 change | aux |
| 32 | change | change | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 25 do | advcl |
| 33 | skins | skin | NOUN | Number=Plur | 32 change | obj |
| 34 | for | for | ADP | _ | 37 time | case |
| 35 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 37 time | det |
| 36 | short | short | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 37 time | amod |
| 37 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 change | obl |
| 38 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 11 took | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | flatter | past · perfect | Oga | Abang | time | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus abang=Experiencer | |||
| 2 | take off | past | Oga | Oga's skin | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent skin=Theme | ||||
| 3 | place | past | Oga not said here | mind | the ground | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme on ground=Destination | |||
| 4 | ask speech: ask | past | Oga not said here | Abang | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S_INF»: agent=Agent abang=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 5 | do not said to happen | to-infinitive | Oga not said here | the same | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent same=Eventuality | ||||
| 6 | change | could | Abang | skins | time | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent skin=Patient |
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/pg70959/18/12/