Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 1, sentence 24
The people were so pleased at having Abang to play for them, and admired him so much that when the funeral was over the chief presented him with some cases of gin, cloth and rods, and gave him some boys to carry his loads on the road to Ikom.
Who acts: people, Abang, funeral, chief · What happens: be, have, play, admire, present, give · To what, where: Abang, Oga, chief, boys, loads, road
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 (people, Abang, funeral, chief), 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 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 people | det |
| 2 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 pleased | nsubj |
| 3 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 pleased | cop |
| 4 | so | so | ADV | _ | 5 pleased | advmod |
| 5 | pleased | pleased | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 6 | at | at | SCONJ | _ | 7 having | mark |
| 7 | having | have | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 5 pleased | advcl |
| 8 | Abang | Abang | PROPN | Number=Sing | 7 having | obj |
| 9 | to | to | PART | _ | 10 play | mark |
| 10 | play | play | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 7 having | xcomp |
| 11 | for | for | ADP | _ | 12 them | case |
| 12 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 10 play | obl |
| 13 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 admired | punct |
| 14 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 15 admired | cc |
| 15 | admired | admire | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 pleased | conj |
| 16 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 15 admired | obj |
| 17 | so | so | ADV | _ | 18 much | advmod |
| 18 | much | much | ADV | _ | 15 admired | advmod |
| 19 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 27 presented | mark |
| 20 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 26 chief | advmod |
| 21 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 22 funeral | det |
| 22 | funeral | funeral | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 chief | nsubj |
| 23 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 26 chief | cop |
| 24 | over | over | ADP | _ | 26 chief | case |
| 25 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 26 chief | det |
| 26 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 presented | nsubj |
| 27 | presented | present | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 15 admired | advcl |
| 28 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 27 presented | obj |
| 29 | with | with | ADP | _ | 31 cases | case |
| 30 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 31 cases | det |
| 31 | cases | case | NOUN | Number=Plur | 27 presented | obl |
| 32 | of | of | ADP | _ | 33 gin | case |
| 33 | gin | gin | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 cases | nmod |
| 34 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 35 cloth | punct |
| 35 | cloth | cloth | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 gin | conj |
| 36 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 37 rods | cc |
| 37 | rods | rod | NOUN | Number=Plur | 33 gin | conj |
| 38 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 40 gave | punct |
| 39 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 40 gave | cc |
| 40 | gave | give | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 pleased | conj |
| 41 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 40 gave | iobj |
| 42 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 43 boys | det |
| 43 | boys | boy | NOUN | Number=Plur | 40 gave | obj |
| 44 | to | to | PART | _ | 45 carry | mark |
| 45 | carry | carry | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 40 gave | advcl |
| 46 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 47 loads | nmod:poss |
| 47 | loads | load | NOUN | Number=Plur | 45 carry | obj |
| 48 | on | on | ADP | _ | 50 road | case |
| 49 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 50 road | det |
| 50 | road | road | NOUN | Number=Sing | 45 carry | obl |
| 51 | to | to | ADP | _ | 52 Ikom | case |
| 52 | Ikom | Ikom | PROPN | Number=Sing | 50 road | nmod |
| 53 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 pleased | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | the people | pleased property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | have | gerund | the people not said here | Abang | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | play | to-infinitive | Abang not said here | for people | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP PP.predicate»: agent=Agent for they=Eventuality | ||||
| 4 | admire | past | the people not said here | Oga | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus | ||||
| 5 | is | past | the funeral | the chief | tree rules | ||||
| 6 | present | past | the chief | Oga | with some cases of gin and cloth and rods | vn fulfilling-13.4.1 «NP V NP-Fulfilling PP.theme»: agent=Agent he=Recipient with case=Theme | |||
| 7 | give | past | the people not said here | some boys | Oga | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient boy=Theme | |||
| 8 | carry | to-infinitive | the people not said here | Oga's loads | the road to Ikom | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent load=Theme |
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/pg70959/18/24/