Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2, sentence 7
Then the Elephantiasis got angry, and said to the people, “If you do not tell me at once where the hare is, I will jump on you and you will have to carry me for the rest of your lives.”
Who acts: Elephantiasis, people, hare · What happens: get, say, not tell, be, jump, have · To what, where: people, 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 (Elephantiasis, people, 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 got | advmod |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 Elephantiasis | det |
| 3 | Elephantiasis | elephantiasis | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 got | nsubj |
| 4 | got | get | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | angry | angry | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 got | xcomp |
| 6 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 8 said | punct |
| 7 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 8 said | cc |
| 8 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 got | conj |
| 9 | to | to | ADP | _ | 11 people | case |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 people | det |
| 11 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 8 said | obl |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 18 tell | punct |
| 13 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 18 tell | punct |
| 14 | If | if | SCONJ | _ | 18 tell | mark |
| 15 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 18 tell | nsubj |
| 16 | do | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 18 tell | aux |
| 17 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 18 tell | advmod |
| 18 | tell | tell | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 8 said | ccomp |
| 19 | me | I | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 18 tell | iobj |
| 20 | at | at | ADP | _ | 21 once | case |
| 21 | once | once | ADV | NumForm=Word NumType=Mult | 18 tell | obl |
| 22 | where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 18 tell | ccomp |
| 23 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 24 hare | det |
| 24 | hare | hare | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 where | nsubj |
| 25 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 22 where | cop |
| 26 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 29 jump | punct |
| 27 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 29 jump | nsubj |
| 28 | will | will | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 29 jump | aux |
| 29 | jump | jump | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 18 tell | conj |
| 30 | on | on | ADP | _ | 31 you | case |
| 31 | you | you | PRON | Case=Acc Person=2 PronType=Prs | 29 jump | obl |
| 32 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 35 have | cc |
| 33 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 35 have | nsubj |
| 34 | will | will | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 35 have | aux |
| 35 | have | have | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 29 jump | conj |
| 36 | to | to | PART | _ | 37 carry | mark |
| 37 | carry | carry | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 35 have | xcomp |
| 38 | me | I | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 37 carry | obj |
| 39 | for | for | ADP | _ | 41 rest | case |
| 40 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 41 rest | det |
| 41 | rest | rest | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 carry | obl |
| 42 | of | of | ADP | _ | 44 lives | case |
| 43 | your | your | PRON | Case=Gen Person=2 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 44 lives | nmod:poss |
| 44 | lives | life | NOUN | Number=Plur | 41 rest | nmod |
| 45 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 got | punct |
| 46 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 4 got | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | get | past | the Elephantiasis | then | angry property | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer | |||
| 2 | say speech: assert | past | the Elephantiasis not said here | the people | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to people=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 3 | not tell speech: assert a condition, not said to happen, in a quote | present · do-support | the people = people | the Elephantiasis = elephantiasis | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent i=Recipient | ||||
| 4 | is in a quote | present | the hare | where property | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | jump in a quote | future | the Elephantiasis = elephantiasis | on the people = people | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on you=Trajectory | ||||
| 6 | have in a quote | future | the people = people | tree rules | |||||
| 7 | carry in a quote | to-infinitive | the people = people not said here | the Elephantiasis = elephantiasis | for the rest of your lives | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Theme |
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/pg70959/19/7/