Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2, sentence 74
But his wife said that she was satisfied that her husband had spoken the truth, as all the hares she had seen had had their tails cut off, so she had resolved to turn back.
Who acts: wife, hares · What happens: say, be, speak, see, have, cut off · To what, where: husband, hares, 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 (wife, hares), 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 | But | but | CCONJ | _ | 4 said | cc |
| 2 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 3 wife | nmod:poss |
| 3 | wife | wife | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 said | nsubj |
| 4 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 8 satisfied | mark |
| 6 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 8 satisfied | nsubj |
| 7 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 satisfied | cop |
| 8 | satisfied | satisfied | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 said | ccomp |
| 9 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 13 spoken | mark |
| 10 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 11 husband | nmod:poss |
| 11 | husband | husband | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 spoken | nsubj:pass |
| 12 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 13 spoken | aux |
| 13 | spoken | speak | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 25 had | advcl |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 15 truth | det |
| 15 | truth | truth | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 spoken | obj |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 hares | punct |
| 17 | as | as | ADP | _ | 20 hares | case |
| 18 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 20 hares | det:predet |
| 19 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 hares | det |
| 20 | hares | hare | NOUN | Number=Plur | 25 had | nsubj |
| 21 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 23 seen | nsubj |
| 22 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 23 seen | aux |
| 23 | seen | see | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 20 hares | acl:relcl |
| 24 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 25 had | aux |
| 25 | had | have | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 8 satisfied | parataxis |
| 26 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 27 tails | nmod:poss |
| 27 | tails | tail | NOUN | Number=Plur | 25 had | obj |
| 28 | cut | cut | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 27 tails | acl |
| 29 | off | off | ADP | _ | 28 cut | compound:prt |
| 30 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 34 resolved | punct |
| 31 | so | so | ADV | _ | 34 resolved | advmod |
| 32 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 34 resolved | nsubj |
| 33 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 34 resolved | aux |
| 34 | resolved | resolve | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 4 said | conj |
| 35 | to | to | PART | _ | 36 turn | mark |
| 36 | turn | turn | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 34 resolved | xcomp |
| 37 | back | back | ADV | _ | 36 turn | advmod |
| 38 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 said | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | past | hare's wife | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 2 | is | past | wife | satisfied property | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | speak speech: other | past · perfect · passive | wife's husband | the truth obj | tree rules | ||||
| 4 | see | past · perfect | wife | all hares not said here | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer hare=Stimulus | ||||
| 5 | have | past · perfect | all hares | men's tails | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tail=Patient | ||||
| 6 | cut off | participle | men's tails not said here | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | |||||
| 7 | resolve | past · perfect | wife | tree rules | |||||
| 8 | turn back | to-infinitive | wife not said here | vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
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/pg70959/19/74/