Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2, sentence 18
The people said he had not come that way, but the Elephantiasis replied that he had just heard the hare’s voice, and again threatened to jump on one of the men if they did not show him where the hare was hiding.
Who acts: people, Elephantiasis, hare · What happens: say, not come, reply, hear, threaten, jump · To what, where: way, voice, 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 (people, Elephantiasis, hare), 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 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 people | det |
| 2 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 said | nsubj |
| 3 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 7 come | nsubj |
| 5 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 come | aux |
| 6 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 7 come | advmod |
| 7 | come | come | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 3 said | ccomp |
| 8 | that | that | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 9 way | det |
| 9 | way | way | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 come | obl:unmarked |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 14 replied | punct |
| 11 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 14 replied | cc |
| 12 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 13 Elephantiasis | det |
| 13 | Elephantiasis | Elephantiasis | PROPN | Number=Sing | 14 replied | nsubj |
| 14 | replied | reply | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 said | parataxis |
| 15 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 19 heard | mark |
| 16 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 19 heard | nsubj |
| 17 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 19 heard | aux |
| 18 | just | just | ADV | _ | 19 heard | advmod |
| 19 | heard | hear | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 14 replied | ccomp |
| 20 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 21 hare | det |
| 21 | hare | hare | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 voice | nmod:poss |
| 22 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 21 hare | case |
| 23 | voice | voice | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 heard | obj |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 27 threatened | punct |
| 25 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 27 threatened | cc |
| 26 | again | again | ADV | _ | 27 threatened | advmod |
| 27 | threatened | threaten | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 3 said | conj |
| 28 | to | to | PART | _ | 29 jump | mark |
| 29 | jump | jump | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 27 threatened | xcomp |
| 30 | on | on | ADP | _ | 31 one | case |
| 31 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 29 jump | obl |
| 32 | of | of | ADP | _ | 34 men | case |
| 33 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 34 men | det |
| 34 | men | man | NOUN | Number=Plur | 31 one | nmod |
| 35 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 39 show | mark |
| 36 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 39 show | nsubj |
| 37 | did | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 39 show | aux |
| 38 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 39 show | advmod |
| 39 | show | show | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 29 jump | advcl |
| 40 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 39 show | iobj |
| 41 | where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 45 hiding | advmod |
| 42 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 43 hare | det |
| 43 | hare | hare | NOUN | Number=Sing | 45 hiding | nsubj |
| 44 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 45 hiding | aux |
| 45 | hiding | hide | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 39 show | advcl |
| 46 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 said | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | past | the people | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 2 | not come | past | Elephantiasis | that way | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 3 | reply speech: assert | past | the Elephantiasis | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 4 | hear | past · perfect | Elephantiasis | the hare's voice | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer voice=Stimulus | ||||
| 5 | threaten | participle | the people not said here | again | tree rules | ||||
| 6 | jump not said to happen | to-infinitive | the people not said here | on one of the men | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on one=Trajectory | ||||
| 7 | not show a condition, not said to happen | past · do-support | people | Elephantiasis | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient | ||||
| 8 | hide | past · progressive | the hare | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V»: agent=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/pg70959/19/18/