Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 1, sentence 57
He then saw that he had caught the Elephantiasis, and asked Okpa to cure him of the disease, but the ju-ju man said he could not help him until he had made his proper sacrifice to the ’Nda ju-ju.
Who acts: Okpa, ju man · What happens: see, catch, ask, cure, say, not help · To what, where: Okpa, body, proper sacrifice · 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, ju man), 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 | He | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 saw | nsubj |
| 2 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 3 saw | advmod |
| 3 | saw | see | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 7 caught | mark |
| 5 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 7 caught | nsubj:pass |
| 6 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 caught | aux |
| 7 | caught | catch | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 3 saw | ccomp |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 Elephantiasis | det |
| 9 | Elephantiasis | elephantiasis | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 caught | obj |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 12 asked | punct |
| 11 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 12 asked | cc |
| 12 | asked | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 saw | conj |
| 13 | Okpa | Okpa | PROPN | Number=Sing | 12 asked | iobj |
| 14 | to | to | PART | _ | 15 cure | mark |
| 15 | cure | cure | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 12 asked | xcomp |
| 16 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 15 cure | obj |
| 17 | of | of | ADP | _ | 19 disease | case |
| 18 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 19 disease | det |
| 19 | disease | disease | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 cure | obl |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 27 said | punct |
| 21 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 27 said | cc |
| 22 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 26 man | det |
| 23 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 ju | compound |
| 24 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 23 ju | punct |
| 25 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 man | compound |
| 26 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 said | nsubj |
| 27 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 saw | conj |
| 28 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 31 help | nsubj |
| 29 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 31 help | aux |
| 30 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 31 help | advmod |
| 31 | help | help | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 27 said | ccomp |
| 32 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 31 help | obj |
| 33 | until | until | SCONJ | _ | 36 made | mark |
| 34 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 36 made | nsubj |
| 35 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 36 made | aux |
| 36 | made | make | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 31 help | advcl |
| 37 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 39 sacrifice | nmod:poss |
| 38 | proper | proper | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 39 sacrifice | amod |
| 39 | sacrifice | sacrifice | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 made | obj |
| 40 | to | to | ADP | _ | 46 ju | case |
| 41 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 46 ju | det |
| 42 | ’ | ' | PUNCT | _ | 46 ju | punct |
| 43 | Nda | Nda | PROPN | Number=Sing | 46 ju | compound |
| 44 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 46 ju | compound |
| 45 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 44 ju | punct |
| 46 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 made | obl |
| 47 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 saw | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | see | past | Okpa | then | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | ||||
| 2 | catch | past · perfect · passive | Okpa | the Elephantiasis obj | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP.beneficiary NP»: subject=Beneficiary elephantiasis=Theme | ||||
| 3 | ask speech: ask | past | Okpa not said here | Okpa | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S_INF»: agent=Agent okpa=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 4 | cure not said to happen | to-infinitive | Okpa not said here | Okpa | of the disease | vn free-10.6.3-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Causer he=Source of disease=Theme | |||
| 5 | say speech: assert | past | the ju man | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 6 | not help | could | Okpa | body | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary | ||||
| 7 | make | past · perfect | Okpa | Okpa's proper sacrifice | to the Nda ju ju | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sacrifice=Product | |||
| 8 | sacrifice | Okpa | nom sacrifice «act 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/pg70959/18/57/