Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2, sentence 25
When the Elephantiasis said he was a friend of the hare, the crab said, “I don’t care whether you are a friend or an enemy, I am not going to give the hare up.”
Who acts: Elephantiasis, crab, you · What happens: say, be, not care, not go, give up · To what, where: friend, hare · 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, crab, you), 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 | When | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 4 said | advmod |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 Elephantiasis | det |
| 3 | Elephantiasis | elephantiasis | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 said | nsubj |
| 4 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 15 said | advcl |
| 5 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 8 friend | nsubj |
| 6 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 friend | cop |
| 7 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 friend | det |
| 8 | friend | friend | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 said | ccomp |
| 9 | of | of | ADP | _ | 11 hare | case |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 hare | det |
| 11 | hare | hare | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 friend | nmod |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 4 said | punct |
| 13 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 crab | det |
| 14 | crab | crab | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 said | nsubj |
| 15 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 21 care | punct |
| 17 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 21 care | punct |
| 18 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 21 care | nsubj |
| 19 | do | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 21 care | aux |
| 20 | n’t | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 21 care | advmod |
| 21 | care | care | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 15 said | ccomp |
| 22 | whether | whether | SCONJ | _ | 26 friend | mark |
| 23 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 26 friend | nsubj |
| 24 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 26 friend | cop |
| 25 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 26 friend | det |
| 26 | friend | friend | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 care | advcl |
| 27 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 29 enemy | cc |
| 28 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 29 enemy | det |
| 29 | enemy | enemy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 friend | conj |
| 30 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 34 going | punct |
| 31 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 34 going | nsubj |
| 32 | am | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 34 going | aux |
| 33 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 34 going | advmod |
| 34 | going | go | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 15 said | ccomp |
| 35 | to | to | PART | _ | 36 give | mark |
| 36 | give | give | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 34 going | xcomp |
| 37 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 38 hare | det |
| 38 | hare | hare | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 give | obj |
| 39 | up | up | ADP | _ | 36 give | compound:prt |
| 40 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 34 going | punct |
| 41 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 34 going | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | past | the Elephantiasis | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 2 | is a | past | Elephantiasis | a friend | of the hare | tree rules | |||
| 3 | say speech: assert | past | the crab | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 4 | not care in a quote | present · do-support | the crab = crab | vn care-88.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | |||||
| 5 | is a in a quote | present | you | a friend or a enemy | a enemy conj | tree rules | |||
| 6 | not go in a quote | present · progressive | the crab = crab | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 7 | give up in a quote | to-infinitive | the crab = crab not said here | the hare | vn resign-10.11-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hare=Source |
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/pg70959/19/25/