Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2, sentence 11
He went on and on until he thought the Elephantiasis must be a long way behind, and it would be safe to stop for a time, so when he came to a small compound where the people were having their evening meal he went in and told them that he was being chased, and that the enemy were following him.
Who acts: Elephantiasis, thing, people, enemy · What happens: go, think, be, stop, come, have · To what, where: long way, small compound, evening meal, people, 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 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Elephantiasis, thing, people, enemy), 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 | 2 went | nsubj |
| 2 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | on | on | ADV | _ | 2 went | advmod |
| 4 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 5 on | cc |
| 5 | on | on | ADV | _ | 3 on | conj |
| 6 | until | until | SCONJ | _ | 8 thought | mark |
| 7 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 8 thought | nsubj |
| 8 | thought | think | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 2 went | advcl |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 Elephantiasis | det |
| 10 | Elephantiasis | elephantiasis | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 way | nsubj |
| 11 | must | must | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 15 way | aux |
| 12 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 15 way | cop |
| 13 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 15 way | det |
| 14 | long | long | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 15 way | amod |
| 15 | way | way | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 thought | ccomp |
| 16 | behind | behind | ADV | _ | 15 way | advmod |
| 17 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 22 safe | punct |
| 18 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 22 safe | cc |
| 19 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 22 safe | nsubj |
| 20 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 22 safe | aux |
| 21 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 22 safe | cop |
| 22 | safe | safe | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 thought | ccomp |
| 23 | to | to | PART | _ | 24 stop | mark |
| 24 | stop | stop | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 22 safe | advcl |
| 25 | for | for | ADP | _ | 27 time | case |
| 26 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 27 time | det |
| 27 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 stop | obl |
| 28 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 32 came | punct |
| 29 | so | so | ADV | _ | 32 came | advmod |
| 30 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 32 came | advmod |
| 31 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 32 came | nsubj |
| 32 | came | come | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 2 went | parataxis |
| 33 | to | to | ADP | _ | 36 compound | case |
| 34 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 36 compound | det |
| 35 | small | small | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 36 compound | amod |
| 36 | compound | compound | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 came | obl |
| 37 | where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 41 having | advmod |
| 38 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 39 people | det |
| 39 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 41 having | nsubj |
| 40 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 41 having | aux |
| 41 | having | have | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 36 compound | acl:relcl |
| 42 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 44 meal | nmod:poss |
| 43 | evening | evening | NOUN | Number=Sing | 44 meal | compound |
| 44 | meal | meal | NOUN | Number=Sing | 41 having | obj |
| 45 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 46 went | nsubj |
| 46 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 44 meal | acl:relcl |
| 47 | in | in | ADV | _ | 46 went | advmod |
| 48 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 49 told | cc |
| 49 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 32 came | conj |
| 50 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 49 told | iobj |
| 51 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 55 chased | mark |
| 52 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 55 chased | nsubj:pass |
| 53 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 55 chased | aux:pass |
| 54 | being | be | AUX | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 55 chased | aux:pass |
| 55 | chased | chase | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 49 told | ccomp |
| 56 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 62 following | punct |
| 57 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 62 following | cc |
| 58 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 62 following | mark |
| 59 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 60 enemy | det |
| 60 | enemy | enemy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 62 following | nsubj |
| 61 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 62 following | aux |
| 62 | following | follow | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 2 went | advcl |
| 63 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 62 following | obj |
| 64 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 went | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | go | past | Elephantiasis | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 2 | think speech: other | past | Elephantiasis | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 3 | is a | must | the Elephantiasis | a long way | behind property | tree rules | |||
| 4 | is | would | thing | safe property | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | stop | to-infinitive | thing not said here | time | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | ||||
| 6 | come | past | Elephantiasis | a small compound | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to compound=Initial_Location | ||||
| 7 | have | past · progressive | the people | people's evening meal | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meal=Patient | ||||
| 8 | go in | past | Elephantiasis | people's evening meal not said here | vn meander-47.7 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location meal=Theme | ||||
| 9 | tell speech: assert | past | Elephantiasis not said here | people | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 10 | chase | past · passive | Elephantiasis | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | |||||
| 11 | follow | past · progressive | the enemy | Elephantiasis | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=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/pg70959/19/11/