Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 1, sentence 30
The people of Ikom had heard from Adaginkpor that Abang was going to visit them, so they were ready for him, and gave him a big feast, and held a play which lasted several days, Oga taking his part in the playing, dancing and singing, as before.
Who acts: people, Abang, play · What happens: hear, go, visit, be, give, hold · To what, where: Adaginkpor, people, big feast, part, playing
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, play), 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 | 6 heard | nsubj |
| 3 | of | of | ADP | _ | 4 Ikom | case |
| 4 | Ikom | Ikom | PROPN | Number=Sing | 2 people | nmod |
| 5 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 heard | aux |
| 6 | heard | hear | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 7 | from | from | ADP | _ | 8 Adaginkpor | case |
| 8 | Adaginkpor | Adaginkpor | PROPN | Number=Sing | 6 heard | obl |
| 9 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 12 going | mark |
| 10 | Abang | Abang | PROPN | Number=Sing | 12 going | nsubj |
| 11 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 12 going | aux |
| 12 | going | go | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 6 heard | ccomp |
| 13 | to | to | PART | _ | 14 visit | mark |
| 14 | visit | visit | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 12 going | xcomp |
| 15 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 14 visit | obj |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 ready | punct |
| 17 | so | so | ADV | _ | 20 ready | advmod |
| 18 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 20 ready | nsubj |
| 19 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 20 ready | cop |
| 20 | ready | ready | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 heard | conj |
| 21 | for | for | ADP | _ | 22 him | case |
| 22 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 20 ready | obl |
| 23 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 25 gave | punct |
| 24 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 25 gave | cc |
| 25 | gave | give | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 heard | conj |
| 26 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 25 gave | iobj |
| 27 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 29 feast | det |
| 28 | big | big | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 29 feast | amod |
| 29 | feast | feast | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 gave | obj |
| 30 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 32 held | punct |
| 31 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 32 held | cc |
| 32 | held | hold | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 25 gave | conj |
| 33 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 34 play | det |
| 34 | play | play | NOUN | Number=Sing | 41 taking | nsubj |
| 35 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 36 lasted | nsubj |
| 36 | lasted | last | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 34 play | acl:relcl |
| 37 | several | several | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 38 days | amod |
| 38 | days | day | NOUN | Number=Plur | 36 lasted | obj |
| 39 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 40 Oga | punct |
| 40 | Oga | Oga | PROPN | Number=Sing | 41 taking | nsubj |
| 41 | taking | take | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 32 held | ccomp |
| 42 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 43 part | nmod:poss |
| 43 | part | part | NOUN | Number=Sing | 41 taking | obj |
| 44 | in | in | ADP | _ | 46 playing | case |
| 45 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 46 playing | det |
| 46 | playing | playing | NOUN | Number=Sing | 41 taking | obl |
| 47 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 48 dancing | punct |
| 48 | dancing | dance | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 41 taking | conj |
| 49 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 50 singing | cc |
| 50 | singing | sing | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 48 dancing | conj |
| 51 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 53 before | punct |
| 52 | as | as | ADP | _ | 53 before | case |
| 53 | before | before | ADV | _ | 48 dancing | advmod |
| 54 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 6 heard | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | hear | past · perfect | the people of Ikom | Adaginkpor | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V PP.source how S»: agent=Agent from adaginkpor=Source clause=Topic | ||||
| 2 | go | past · progressive | Abang | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 3 | visit | to-infinitive | Abang not said here | people | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Co-Agent | ||||
| 4 | is | past | people | for Adaginkpor; ready property | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | give | past | the people of Ikom not said here | a big feast | Adaginkpor | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient feast=Theme | |||
| 6 | hold | past | the people of Ikom not said here | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | |||||
| 7 | last | past | a play | day | vn cost-54.2 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 8 | take | gerund | a play | Oga's part | the playing | Oga nsubj | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent part=Value in playing=Location | ||
| 9 | dance | gerund | a play not said here | before property | vn modes_of_being_with_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 10 | sing speech: express | gerund | a play not said here | vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=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/pg70959/18/30/