Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2, sentence 68

The hare then said, “What is the matter?” and she replied, “My husband has lost his tail, and told me that it had been cut on account of the war ju-ju, and that all the other men-hares have also had their tails cut, so as I do not like to live with a hare who has no tail, I have come to see if he told the truth.”

Who acts: hare, wife, other men · What happens: say, be, reply, lose, tell, cut · To what, where: matter, husband, hare, tail, account, tails · 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, other men), 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 hare	det
2	hare	hare	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 said	nsubj
3	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	4 said	advmod
4	said	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 matter	punct
6	“	"	PUNCT	_	10 matter	punct
7	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	10 matter	nsubj
8	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 matter	cop
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 matter	det
10	matter	matter	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 said	ccomp
11	?	?	PUNCT	_	10 matter	punct
12	”	"	PUNCT	_	10 matter	punct
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 replied	cc
14	she	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	15 replied	nsubj
15	replied	reply	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 said	conj
16	,	,	PUNCT	_	21 lost	punct
17	“	"	PUNCT	_	21 lost	punct
18	My	my	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	19 husband	nmod:poss
19	husband	husband	NOUN	Number=Sing	21 lost	nsubj:pass
20	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	21 lost	aux
21	lost	lose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	15 replied	ccomp
22	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	23 tail	nmod:poss
23	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	21 lost	obj
24	,	,	PUNCT	_	26 told	punct
25	and	and	CCONJ	_	26 told	cc
26	told	tell	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 said	conj
27	me	I	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	26 told	iobj
28	that	that	SCONJ	_	32 cut	mark
29	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	32 cut	nsubj:pass
30	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	32 cut	aux
31	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	32 cut	aux:pass
32	cut	cut	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	26 told	ccomp
33	on	on	ADP	_	34 account	case
34	account	account	NOUN	Number=Sing	32 cut	obl
35	of	of	ADP	_	40 ju	case
36	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	40 ju	det
37	war	war	NOUN	Number=Sing	40 ju	compound
38	ju	ju	NOUN	Number=Sing	40 ju	compound
39	-	-	PUNCT	_	38 ju	punct
40	ju	ju	NOUN	Number=Sing	34 account	nmod
41	,	,	PUNCT	_	52 had	punct
42	and	and	CCONJ	_	52 had	cc
43	that	that	SCONJ	_	52 had	mark
44	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	47 men	det:predet
45	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	47 men	det
46	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	47 men	amod
47	men	man	NOUN	Number=Plur	52 had	nsubj
48	-	-	PUNCT	_	47 men	punct
49	hares	hare	NOUN	Number=Plur	47 men	conj
50	have	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	52 had	aux
51	also	also	ADV	_	52 had	advmod
52	had	have	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	26 told	parataxis
53	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	54 tails	nmod:poss
54	tails	tail	NOUN	Number=Plur	52 had	obj
55	cut	cut	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	54 tails	acl
56	,	,	PUNCT	_	62 like	punct
57	so	so	ADV	_	62 like	advmod
58	as	as	SCONJ	_	62 like	mark
59	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	62 like	nsubj
60	do	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	62 like	aux
61	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	62 like	advmod
62	like	like	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 said	conj
63	to	to	PART	_	64 live	mark
64	live	live	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	62 like	xcomp
65	with	with	ADP	_	67 hare	case
66	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	67 hare	det
67	hare	hare	NOUN	Number=Sing	64 live	obl
68	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	69 has	nsubj
69	has	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	67 hare	acl:relcl
70	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	71 tail	det
71	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	69 has	obj
72	,	,	PUNCT	_	75 come	punct
73	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	75 come	nsubj
74	have	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	75 come	aux
75	come	come	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	4 said	conj
76	to	to	PART	_	77 see	mark
77	see	see	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	75 come	advcl
78	if	if	SCONJ	_	80 told	mark
79	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	80 told	nsubj
80	told	tell	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	77 see	ccomp
81	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	82 truth	det
82	truth	truth	NOUN	Number=Sing	80 told	obj
83	.	.	PUNCT	_	4 said	punct
84	”	"	PUNCT	_	4 said	punct

Pragmatics

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	say speech: ask	past	the hare				then		vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
2	is a in a quote	present		the matter				What nsubj	tree rules
3	reply speech: assert	past	wife						vn say-37.7-1 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
4	lose in a quote	present · perfect · passive		My husband				hare's tail obj	tree rules
5	tell speech: assert in a quote	past	the hare not said here		the hare = hare				vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent i=Recipient clause=Topic
6	cut in a quote	past · perfect · passive		tail		account of the war ju ju			vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product
7	have in a quote	present · perfect	all other men and hares	men's tails					vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tail=Patient
8	cut in a quote	participle		men's tails not said here					vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer
9	not like in a quote	present · do-support	the hare = hare						vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme
10	live not said to happen, in a quote	to-infinitive	the hare = hare not said here					with a hare	vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme with hare=Location
11	have in a quote	present	a hare	no tail					vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tail=Patient
12	come in a quote	present · perfect	the hare = hare						vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
13	see in a quote	to-infinitive	the hare = hare not said here						vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus
14	tell speech: assert a condition, not said to happen, in a quote	past	hare	the truth					vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent truth=Recipient
15	account in a quote			the war ju ju					nom account «communication transitive»: of=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.

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🌲 Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2, sentence 68

The tree

Pragmatics

Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2, sentence 68