Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 1, sentence 42
They told the real Abang that they were sorry they could not give him any more presents, and that the best thing he could do was to help himself from the things which had been given to Oga in his name.
Who acts: people, Oga, best thing · What happens: tell, be, not give, do, give, name · To what, where: real Abang, more presents, Oga, best thing, things, name · 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 (people, Oga, best thing), 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 | They | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 2 told | nsubj |
| 2 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 Abang | det |
| 4 | real | real | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 Abang | amod |
| 5 | Abang | Abang | PROPN | Number=Sing | 2 told | iobj |
| 6 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 9 sorry | mark |
| 7 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 9 sorry | nsubj |
| 8 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 sorry | cop |
| 9 | sorry | sorry | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 2 told | ccomp |
| 10 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 13 give | nsubj |
| 11 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 13 give | aux |
| 12 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 13 give | advmod |
| 13 | give | give | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 9 sorry | ccomp |
| 14 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 13 give | iobj |
| 15 | any | any | ADV | _ | 16 more | advmod |
| 16 | more | more | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 17 presents | amod |
| 17 | presents | present | NOUN | Number=Plur | 13 give | obj |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 29 help | punct |
| 19 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 29 help | cc |
| 20 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 23 thing | mark |
| 21 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 23 thing | det |
| 22 | best | good | ADJ | Degree=Sup | 23 thing | amod |
| 23 | thing | thing | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 help | nsubj |
| 24 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 26 do | nsubj |
| 25 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 26 do | aux |
| 26 | do | do | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 23 thing | acl:relcl |
| 27 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 29 help | cop |
| 28 | to | to | PART | _ | 29 help | mark |
| 29 | help | help | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 2 told | ccomp |
| 30 | himself | himself | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes | 29 help | obj |
| 31 | from | from | ADP | _ | 33 things | case |
| 32 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 33 things | det |
| 33 | things | thing | NOUN | Number=Plur | 29 help | obl |
| 34 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 37 given | nsubj |
| 35 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 37 given | aux |
| 36 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 37 given | aux:pass |
| 37 | given | give | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 33 things | acl:relcl |
| 38 | to | to | ADP | _ | 39 Oga | case |
| 39 | Oga | Oga | PROPN | Number=Sing | 37 given | obl |
| 40 | in | in | ADP | _ | 42 name | case |
| 41 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 42 name | nmod:poss |
| 42 | name | name | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 given | obl |
| 43 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 told | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | tell speech: assert | past | people | the real Abang | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent abang=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 2 | is | past | people | sorry property | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | not give | could | people | more presents | Oga | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient present=Theme | |||
| 4 | do | could | Oga | the best thing not said here | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Eventuality | ||||
| 5 | is not said to happen | past | the best thing | the things | Oga obj; help property | tree rules | |||
| 6 | give | past · perfect · passive | the things | Oga | Oga's name | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: subject=Theme to oga=Recipient | |||
| 7 | name | Oga | 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/pg70959/18/42/