Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 1, sentence 55
But he did nothing to the hare, and when he came to where he was sitting he called upon the newcomer to go and bring the usual present of a goat or a fowl to sacrifice to the ’Nda ju-ju.
Who acts: Okpa · What happens: do, come, sit, call, go, bring · To what, where: nothing, usual present, Nda ju ju · 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), 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 | But | but | CCONJ | _ | 3 did | cc |
| 2 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 did | nsubj |
| 3 | did | do | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | nothing | nothing | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Neg | 3 did | obj |
| 5 | to | to | ADP | _ | 7 hare | case |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 hare | det |
| 7 | hare | hare | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 did | obl |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 12 came | punct |
| 9 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 12 came | cc |
| 10 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 12 came | advmod |
| 11 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 12 came | nsubj |
| 12 | came | come | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 did | parataxis |
| 13 | to | to | ADP | _ | 14 where | case |
| 14 | where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 17 sitting | obl |
| 15 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 17 sitting | nsubj |
| 16 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 17 sitting | aux |
| 17 | sitting | sit | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 12 came | conj |
| 18 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 19 called | nsubj |
| 19 | called | call | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 17 sitting | parataxis |
| 20 | upon | upon | ADP | _ | 22 newcomer | case |
| 21 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 22 newcomer | det |
| 22 | newcomer | newcomer | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 called | obl |
| 23 | to | to | PART | _ | 24 go | mark |
| 24 | go | go | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 22 newcomer | acl |
| 25 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 26 bring | cc |
| 26 | bring | bring | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 24 go | conj |
| 27 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 29 present | det |
| 28 | usual | usual | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 29 present | amod |
| 29 | present | present | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 bring | obj |
| 30 | of | of | ADP | _ | 32 goat | case |
| 31 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 32 goat | det |
| 32 | goat | goat | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 present | nmod |
| 33 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 35 fowl | cc |
| 34 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 35 fowl | det |
| 35 | fowl | fowl | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 present | conj |
| 36 | to | to | PART | _ | 37 sacrifice | mark |
| 37 | sacrifice | sacrifice | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 35 fowl | acl |
| 38 | to | to | ADP | _ | 44 ju | case |
| 39 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 44 ju | det |
| 40 | ’ | ' | PUNCT | _ | 44 ju | punct |
| 41 | Nda | Nda | PROPN | Number=Sing | 44 ju | compound |
| 42 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 44 ju | compound |
| 43 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 42 ju | punct |
| 44 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 sacrifice | obl |
| 45 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 did | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | do | past | Okpa | nothing | to the hare | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nothing=Eventuality | |||
| 2 | come | past | Okpa | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 3 | sit | past · progressive | Okpa | vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 4 | call | participle | Okpa | upon the newcomer | vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 5 | go | to-infinitive | Okpa not said here | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 6 | bring | infinitive | Okpa not said here | the usual present of a goat or a fowl | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent present=Theme | ||||
| 7 | sacrifice | to-infinitive | Okpa not said here | the Nda ju ju | vn contribute-13.2-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to ju=Recipient |
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/pg70959/18/55/