Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 1, sentence 22
As soon as he was ready he went to the house where the funeral was going on, and told the people that he was the celebrated Abang from Bendega, whom they had wanted to see for such a long time.
Who acts: Oga, funeral, people, celebrated Abang · What happens: be, go, go on, tell, celebrate, want · To what, where: house, people, celebrated Abang, Bendega · 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, funeral, people, celebrated 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 | As | as | ADV | _ | 2 soon | advmod |
| 2 | soon | soon | ADV | Degree=Pos | 8 went | advmod |
| 3 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 6 ready | mark |
| 4 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 6 ready | nsubj |
| 5 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 ready | cop |
| 6 | ready | ready | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 2 soon | advcl |
| 7 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 8 went | nsubj |
| 8 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 9 | to | to | ADP | _ | 11 house | case |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 house | det |
| 11 | house | house | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 went | obl |
| 12 | where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 16 going | advmod |
| 13 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 funeral | det |
| 14 | funeral | funeral | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 going | nsubj |
| 15 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 16 going | aux |
| 16 | going | go | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 11 house | acl:relcl |
| 17 | on | on | ADP | _ | 16 going | compound:prt |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 told | punct |
| 19 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 20 told | cc |
| 20 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 went | parataxis |
| 21 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 22 people | det |
| 22 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 20 told | iobj |
| 23 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 28 Abang | mark |
| 24 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 28 Abang | nsubj |
| 25 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 28 Abang | cop |
| 26 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 28 Abang | det |
| 27 | celebrated | celebrate | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 28 Abang | amod |
| 28 | Abang | Abang | PROPN | Number=Sing | 20 told | conj |
| 29 | from | from | ADP | _ | 30 Bendega | case |
| 30 | Bendega | Bendega | PROPN | Number=Sing | 28 Abang | nmod |
| 31 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 35 wanted | punct |
| 32 | whom | whom | PRON | PronType=Rel | 35 wanted | obj |
| 33 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 35 wanted | nsubj |
| 34 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 35 wanted | aux |
| 35 | wanted | want | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 28 Abang | acl:relcl |
| 36 | to | to | PART | _ | 37 see | mark |
| 37 | see | see | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 35 wanted | xcomp |
| 38 | for | for | ADP | _ | 42 time | case |
| 39 | such | such | DET | PronType=Ind | 42 time | det:predet |
| 40 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 42 time | det |
| 41 | long | long | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 42 time | amod |
| 42 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 see | obl |
| 43 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 8 went | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | Oga | ready property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | go | past | Oga | the house | soon property | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to house=Initial_Location | |||
| 3 | go on | past · progressive | the funeral | vn function-105.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 4 | tell speech: assert | past | the people | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent people=Recipient | |||||
| 5 | celebrate | participle | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | ||||||
| 6 | is a | past | Oga | the celebrated Abang | Bendega | tree rules | |||
| 7 | want | past · perfect | people | the celebrated Abang | tree rules | ||||
| 8 | see not said to happen | to-infinitive | the celebrated Abang not said here | time | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
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/pg70959/18/22/