Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 1, sentence 34
Unfortunately for Oga, the chief of Inkum had heard from Abang’s parents that Oga had changed skins with their son and that he was travelling about the country collecting dashes in Abang’s name.
Who acts: Oga, Abang · What happens: hear, change, travel, collect, name · To what, where: chief, skins, dashes, name
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 | Unfortunately | unfortunately | ADV | _ | root | root |
| 2 | for | for | ADP | _ | 3 Oga | case |
| 3 | Oga | Oga | PROPN | Number=Sing | 1 Unfortunately | obl |
| 4 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 6 chief | punct |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 chief | det |
| 6 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 Oga | appos |
| 7 | of | of | ADP | _ | 8 Inkum | case |
| 8 | Inkum | Inkum | PROPN | Number=Sing | 10 heard | obl |
| 9 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 10 heard | aux |
| 10 | heard | hear | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 6 chief | acl:relcl |
| 11 | from | from | ADP | _ | 14 parents | case |
| 12 | Abang | Abang | PROPN | Number=Sing | 14 parents | nmod:poss |
| 13 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 12 Abang | case |
| 14 | parents | parent | NOUN | Number=Plur | 10 heard | obl |
| 15 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 18 changed | mark |
| 16 | Oga | Oga | PROPN | Number=Sing | 18 changed | nsubj |
| 17 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 18 changed | aux |
| 18 | changed | change | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 10 heard | advcl |
| 19 | skins | skin | NOUN | Number=Plur | 18 changed | obj |
| 20 | with | with | ADP | _ | 22 son | case |
| 21 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 22 son | nmod:poss |
| 22 | son | son | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 changed | obl |
| 23 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 27 travelling | cc |
| 24 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 27 travelling | mark |
| 25 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 27 travelling | nsubj |
| 26 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 27 travelling | aux |
| 27 | travelling | travel | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 18 changed | conj |
| 28 | about | about | ADP | _ | 30 country | case |
| 29 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 30 country | det |
| 30 | country | country | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 travelling | obl |
| 31 | collecting | collect | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 27 travelling | advcl |
| 32 | dashes | dash | NOUN | Number=Plur | 31 collecting | obj |
| 33 | in | in | ADP | _ | 36 name | case |
| 34 | Abang | Abang | PROPN | Number=Sing | 36 name | nmod:poss |
| 35 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 34 Abang | case |
| 36 | name | name | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 collecting | obl |
| 37 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 1 Unfortunately | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | hear | past · perfect | the chief not said here | of Inkum; from Abang's parents | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V PP.theme PP.source»: agent=Agent of inkum=Theme from parent=Source | ||||
| 2 | change | past · perfect | Oga | skins | with chiefs's son | vn exchange-13.6.1 «NP V NP PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent skin=Theme with son=Co-Agent | |||
| 3 | travel | past · progressive | Oga | about the country | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme about country=Trajectory | ||||
| 4 | collect | gerund | Oga not said here | dashes | Abang's name | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dash=Theme | |||
| 6 | name | Abang | nom name «communication transitive»: poss=agent |
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/pg70959/18/34/