Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 1, sentence 51
Okpa told the hare that he might join in the feast, but that when he had finished eating he must make the usual present to the ju-ju, and that if he went way without paying something very bad would happen to him.
Who acts: Okpa, something · What happens: tell, join, finish, eat, make, go · To what, where: hare, usual present, way, Okpa · 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 (Okpa, something), 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 | Okpa | Okpa | PROPN | Number=Sing | 2 told | nsubj |
| 2 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 hare | det |
| 4 | hare | hare | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 told | iobj |
| 5 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 8 join | mark |
| 6 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 8 join | nsubj |
| 7 | might | might | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 8 join | aux |
| 8 | join | join | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 2 told | xcomp |
| 9 | in | in | ADP | _ | 11 feast | case |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 feast | det |
| 11 | feast | feast | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 join | obl |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 22 make | punct |
| 13 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 22 make | cc |
| 14 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 18 finished | mark |
| 15 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 18 finished | advmod |
| 16 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 18 finished | nsubj |
| 17 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 18 finished | aux |
| 18 | finished | finish | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 22 make | advcl |
| 19 | eating | eat | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 18 finished | xcomp |
| 20 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 22 make | nsubj |
| 21 | must | must | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 22 make | aux |
| 22 | make | make | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 2 told | conj |
| 23 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 25 present | det |
| 24 | usual | usual | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 25 present | amod |
| 25 | present | present | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 make | obj |
| 26 | to | to | ADP | _ | 30 ju | case |
| 27 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 30 ju | det |
| 28 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 ju | compound |
| 29 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 28 ju | punct |
| 30 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 present | nmod |
| 31 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 36 went | punct |
| 32 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 36 went | cc |
| 33 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 36 went | mark |
| 34 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 36 went | mark |
| 35 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 36 went | nsubj |
| 36 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 2 told | parataxis |
| 37 | way | way | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 went | obj |
| 38 | without | without | SCONJ | _ | 39 paying | mark |
| 39 | paying | pay | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 36 went | advcl |
| 40 | something | something | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Ind | 44 happen | nsubj |
| 41 | very | very | ADV | _ | 42 bad | advmod |
| 42 | bad | bad | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 40 something | amod |
| 43 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 44 happen | aux |
| 44 | happen | happen | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 39 paying | ccomp |
| 45 | to | to | ADP | _ | 46 him | case |
| 46 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 44 happen | obl |
| 47 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 told | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | tell speech: assert | past | Okpa | the hare | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent hare=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 2 | join not said to happen | might | Okpa | in the feast | vn cooperate-73.1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in feast=Theme | ||||
| 3 | finish | past · perfect | Okpa | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality | |||||
| 4 | eat | gerund | Okpa not said here | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 5 | make | must | Okpa | the usual present | to the ju ju | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent present=Product | |||
| 6 | go a condition, not said to happen | past | Okpa | way | vn meander-47.7 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location way=Theme | ||||
| 7 | pay | gerund | Okpa not said here | tree rules | |||||
| 8 | happen | would | something | Okpa | vn occur-48.3-1 «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/pg70959/18/51/