Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2, sentence 48
When he saw what had happened he did not like to return to his wife at once, as she might deny him, so he waited until it was dark and then joined his wife.
Who acts: hare, wife, tail · What happens: see, happen, not like, return, deny, wait · To what, where: hare, wife · 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 (hare, wife, tail), 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 | 3 saw | advmod |
| 2 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 saw | nsubj |
| 3 | saw | see | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 27 waited | advcl |
| 4 | what | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 6 happened | nsubj |
| 5 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 happened | aux |
| 6 | happened | happen | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 3 saw | ccomp |
| 7 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 10 like | nsubj |
| 8 | did | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 10 like | aux |
| 9 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 10 like | advmod |
| 10 | like | like | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 6 happened | parataxis |
| 11 | to | to | PART | _ | 12 return | mark |
| 12 | return | return | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 10 like | xcomp |
| 13 | to | to | ADP | _ | 15 wife | case |
| 14 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 15 wife | nmod:poss |
| 15 | wife | wife | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 return | obl |
| 16 | at | at | ADP | _ | 17 once | case |
| 17 | once | once | ADV | NumForm=Word NumType=Mult | 12 return | obl |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 22 deny | punct |
| 19 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 22 deny | mark |
| 20 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 22 deny | nsubj |
| 21 | might | might | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 22 deny | aux |
| 22 | deny | deny | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 12 return | conj |
| 23 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 22 deny | obj |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 27 waited | punct |
| 25 | so | so | ADV | _ | 27 waited | advmod |
| 26 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 27 waited | nsubj |
| 27 | waited | wait | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 28 | until | until | SCONJ | _ | 31 dark | mark |
| 29 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 31 dark | nsubj |
| 30 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 31 dark | cop |
| 31 | dark | dark | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 27 waited | advcl |
| 32 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 34 joined | cc |
| 33 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 34 joined | advmod |
| 34 | joined | join | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 27 waited | conj |
| 35 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 36 wife | nmod:poss |
| 36 | wife | wife | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 joined | obj |
| 37 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 27 waited | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | see | past | hare | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | |||||
| 2 | happen | past · perfect | what nsubj | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 3 | not like | past · do-support | hare | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | |||||
| 4 | return not said to happen | to-infinitive | hare not said here | to hare's wife result | vn convert-26.6.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Patient to wife=Result | ||||
| 5 | deny | might | wife | hare | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Agent he=Eventuality | ||||
| 6 | wait | past | hare | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 7 | is | past | tail | dark property | tree rules | ||||
| 8 | join | past | hare not said here | hare's wife | then | vn mix-22.1-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wife=Patient |
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/pg70959/19/48/