Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2, sentence 5

Then the Elephantiasis said, “Oh, I see you want to deceive me, for I tracked him as I came along the path; but let me tell you the hare is a great friend of mine; unfortunately he has long legs and can run fast, whereas I have no legs and can only roll along slowly, and thus got left behind.”

Who acts: Elephantiasis, you, hare · What happens: say, see, want, deceive, track, come · To what, where: Elephantiasis, path, you, great friend, long legs, legs · 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, you, 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	Then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	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	root	root
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 see	punct
6	“	"	PUNCT	_	10 see	punct
7	Oh	oh	INTJ	_	10 see	discourse
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 Oh	punct
9	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	10 see	nsubj
10	see	see	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 said	conj
11	you	you	PRON	Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs	12 want	nsubj
12	want	want	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 see	ccomp
13	to	to	PART	_	14 deceive	mark
14	deceive	deceive	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	12 want	xcomp
15	me	I	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	14 deceive	obj
16	,	,	PUNCT	_	19 tracked	punct
17	for	for	SCONJ	_	19 tracked	mark
18	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	19 tracked	nsubj
19	tracked	track	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	14 deceive	advcl
20	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	19 tracked	obj
21	as	as	SCONJ	_	23 came	mark
22	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	23 came	nsubj
23	came	come	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	19 tracked	advcl
24	along	along	ADP	_	26 path	case
25	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	26 path	det
26	path	path	NOUN	Number=Sing	23 came	obl
27	;	;	PUNCT	_	29 let	punct
28	but	but	CCONJ	_	29 let	cc
29	let	let	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 said	ccomp
30	me	I	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	29 let	obj
31	tell	tell	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	29 let	xcomp
32	you	you	PRON	Case=Acc Person=2 PronType=Prs	31 tell	iobj
33	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	34 hare	det
34	hare	hare	NOUN	Number=Sing	38 friend	nsubj
35	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	38 friend	cop
36	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	38 friend	det
37	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	38 friend	amod
38	friend	friend	NOUN	Number=Sing	31 tell	ccomp
39	of	of	ADP	_	40 mine	case
40	mine	my	PRON	Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	38 friend	nmod
41	;	;	PUNCT	_	44 has	punct
42	unfortunately	unfortunately	ADV	_	44 has	advmod
43	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	44 has	nsubj
44	has	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	29 let	parataxis
45	long	long	ADJ	Degree=Pos	46 legs	amod
46	legs	leg	NOUN	Number=Plur	44 has	obj
47	and	and	CCONJ	_	49 run	cc
48	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	49 run	aux
49	run	run	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	44 has	conj
50	fast	fast	ADV	Degree=Pos	49 run	advmod
51	,	,	PUNCT	_	54 have	punct
52	whereas	whereas	SCONJ	_	54 have	mark
53	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	54 have	nsubj
54	have	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	49 run	parataxis
55	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	56 legs	det
56	legs	leg	NOUN	Number=Plur	54 have	obj
57	and	and	CCONJ	_	60 roll	cc
58	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	60 roll	aux
59	only	only	ADV	_	60 roll	advmod
60	roll	roll	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	54 have	conj
61	along	along	ADV	_	60 roll	advmod
62	slowly	slowly	ADV	_	60 roll	advmod
63	,	,	PUNCT	_	67 left	punct
64	and	and	CCONJ	_	67 left	cc
65	thus	thus	ADV	_	67 left	advmod
66	got	get	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	67 left	aux:pass
67	left	leave	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 said	conj
68	behind	behind	ADV	_	67 left	advmod
69	.	.	PUNCT	_	4 said	punct
70	”	"	PUNCT	_	4 said	punct

Pragmatics

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	past	the Elephantiasis				then		vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	see in a quote	present	the Elephantiasis = elephantiasis						vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus
3	want in a quote	present	you						vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme
4	deceive not said to happen, in a quote	to-infinitive	you not said here	the Elephantiasis = elephantiasis					vn trick-59.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Patient
5	track in a quote	past	the Elephantiasis = elephantiasis	Elephantiasis					vn stalk-35.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme
6	come in a quote	past	the Elephantiasis = elephantiasis			the path			vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme along path=Initial_Location
7	let in a quote	infinitive		the Elephantiasis = elephantiasis					tree rules
8	tell speech: assert in a quote	infinitive	the Elephantiasis = elephantiasis not said here		you				vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent you=Recipient
9	is a in a quote	present	the hare	a great friend				of the Elephantiasis = elephantiasis	tree rules
10	have in a quote	present	hare	long legs				unfortunately property	vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent leg=Patient
11	run in a quote	can	hare not said here					fast property	vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
12	have in a quote	present	the Elephantiasis = elephantiasis	no legs					vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent leg=Patient
13	roll in a quote	can	the Elephantiasis = elephantiasis not said here					along, slowly property	vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme
14	leave behind in a quote	past · passive	the Elephantiasis not said here					behind, thus property	vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»

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/pg70959/19/5/

🌲 Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2, sentence 5

The tree

Pragmatics

Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2, sentence 5