Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 1, sentence 58
As the hare was very poor he was in a great state of mind as to how he should pay, and although he begged hard Okpa would not listen to him; so at last he made up his mind to consult his wife, and started off, dragging the Elephantiasis with him.
Who acts: hare, Okpa · What happens: be, pay, beg, not listen, make up, consult · To what, where: great state, body, mind, last, wife, Elephantiasis · 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 (hare, 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 | As | as | SCONJ | _ | 6 poor | mark |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 hare | det |
| 3 | hare | hare | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 poor | nsubj |
| 4 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 poor | cop |
| 5 | very | very | ADV | _ | 6 poor | advmod |
| 6 | poor | poor | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 25 begged | advcl |
| 7 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 12 state | nsubj |
| 8 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 12 state | cop |
| 9 | in | in | ADP | _ | 12 state | case |
| 10 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 12 state | det |
| 11 | great | great | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 12 state | amod |
| 12 | state | state | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 poor | conj |
| 13 | of | of | ADP | _ | 14 mind | case |
| 14 | mind | mind | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 state | nmod |
| 15 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 20 pay | mark |
| 16 | to | to | ADP | _ | 15 as | fixed |
| 17 | how | how | ADV | PronType=Int | 20 pay | advmod |
| 18 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 20 pay | nsubj |
| 19 | should | should | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 20 pay | aux |
| 20 | pay | pay | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 12 state | advcl |
| 21 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 25 begged | punct |
| 22 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 25 begged | cc |
| 23 | although | although | SCONJ | _ | 25 begged | mark |
| 24 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 25 begged | nsubj |
| 25 | begged | beg | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 26 | hard | hard | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 25 begged | xcomp |
| 27 | Okpa | Okpa | PROPN | Number=Sing | 30 listen | nsubj |
| 28 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 30 listen | aux |
| 29 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 30 listen | advmod |
| 30 | listen | listen | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 26 hard | ccomp |
| 31 | to | to | ADP | _ | 32 him | case |
| 32 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 30 listen | obl |
| 33 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 38 made | punct |
| 34 | so | so | ADV | _ | 38 made | advmod |
| 35 | at | at | ADP | _ | 36 last | case |
| 36 | last | last | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 made | obl |
| 37 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 38 made | nsubj |
| 38 | made | make | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 25 begged | conj |
| 39 | up | up | ADP | _ | 38 made | compound:prt |
| 40 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 41 mind | nmod:poss |
| 41 | mind | mind | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 made | obj |
| 42 | to | to | PART | _ | 43 consult | mark |
| 43 | consult | consult | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 38 made | advcl |
| 44 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 45 wife | nmod:poss |
| 45 | wife | wife | NOUN | Number=Sing | 43 consult | obj |
| 46 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 48 started | punct |
| 47 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 48 started | cc |
| 48 | started | start | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 25 begged | conj |
| 49 | off | off | ADP | _ | 48 started | compound:prt |
| 50 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 51 dragging | punct |
| 51 | dragging | drag | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 48 started | advcl |
| 52 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 53 Elephantiasis | det |
| 53 | Elephantiasis | Elephantiasis | PROPN | Number=Sing | 51 dragging | obj |
| 54 | with | with | ADP | _ | 55 him | case |
| 55 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 51 dragging | obl |
| 56 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 25 begged | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | the hare | poor property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | is | past | Okpa | a great state | of mind | tree rules | |||
| 3 | pay | should | Okpa | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 4 | beg speech: request | past | Okpa | hard property | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V PP.Topic»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 5 | not listen | would | Okpa | body | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to he=Theme | ||||
| 6 | make up | past | Okpa | Okpa's mind | last | vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme mind=Pivot | |||
| 7 | consult | to-infinitive | Okpa not said here | Okpa's wife | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wife=Theme | ||||
| 8 | start off | past | Okpa not said here | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | |||||
| 9 | drag | gerund | Okpa not said here | the Elephantiasis | with Okpa | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent elephantiasis=Theme | |||
| 10 | mind | Okpa | nom mind «cognition 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/pg70959/18/58/