Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2, sentence 75

The next day the hare called all his company together, and told them that he had nearly lost his life the previous day on account of his long tail, as he had sat down on an ant heap with his tail down one of the holes, and some animal inside had caught hold of it and tried to pull him inside to kill him, but to save his life he had cut his tail off with a knife, and he strongly advised them to do the same.

Who acts: day hare, hare, men · What happens: call, tell, lose, sit down, catch, try · To what, where: company, men, life, account, ant heap, animal · 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 (day hare, hare, 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	3 day	det
2	next	next	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 day	amod
3	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 hare	compound
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 hare	det
5	hare	hare	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	called	call	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 hare	acl
7	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	9 company	det:predet
8	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 company	nmod:poss
9	company	company	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 called	xcomp
10	together	together	ADV	_	6 called	advmod
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 told	punct
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 told	cc
13	told	tell	VERB	Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 hare	parataxis
14	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 told	iobj
15	that	that	SCONJ	_	19 lost	mark
16	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	19 lost	nsubj
17	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	19 lost	aux
18	nearly	nearly	ADV	_	19 lost	advmod
19	lost	lose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	13 told	ccomp
20	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	21 life	nmod:poss
21	life	life	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 lost	obj
22	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	24 day	det
23	previous	previous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	24 day	amod
24	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 lost	obl:unmarked
25	on	on	ADP	_	26 account	case
26	account	account	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 lost	obl
27	of	of	ADP	_	30 tail	case
28	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	30 tail	nmod:poss
29	long	long	ADJ	Degree=Pos	30 tail	amod
30	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	26 account	nmod
31	,	,	PUNCT	_	35 sat	punct
32	as	as	SCONJ	_	35 sat	mark
33	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	35 sat	nsubj
34	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	35 sat	aux
35	sat	sit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	19 lost	conj
36	down	down	ADP	_	35 sat	compound:prt
37	on	on	ADP	_	40 heap	case
38	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	40 heap	det
39	ant	ant	NOUN	Number=Sing	40 heap	compound
40	heap	heap	NOUN	Number=Sing	35 sat	obl
41	with	with	ADP	_	43 tail	case
42	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	43 tail	nmod:poss
43	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	40 heap	nmod
44	down	down	ADP	_	45 one	case
45	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	35 sat	obl
46	of	of	ADP	_	48 holes	case
47	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	48 holes	det
48	holes	hole	NOUN	Number=Plur	45 one	nmod
49	,	,	PUNCT	_	55 caught	punct
50	and	and	CCONJ	_	55 caught	cc
51	some	some	DET	PronType=Ind	52 animal	det
52	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	55 caught	nsubj:pass
53	inside	inside	ADV	_	52 animal	advmod
54	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	55 caught	aux
55	caught	catch	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	13 told	parataxis
56	hold	hold	NOUN	Number=Sing	55 caught	obj
57	of	of	ADP	_	58 it	case
58	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	56 hold	nmod
59	and	and	CCONJ	_	60 tried	cc
60	tried	try	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	55 caught	conj
61	to	to	PART	_	62 pull	mark
62	pull	pull	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	60 tried	xcomp
63	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	62 pull	obj
64	inside	inside	ADV	_	62 pull	advmod
65	to	to	PART	_	66 kill	mark
66	kill	kill	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	62 pull	advcl
67	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	66 kill	obj
68	,	,	PUNCT	_	76 cut	punct
69	but	but	CCONJ	_	76 cut	cc
70	to	to	PART	_	71 save	mark
71	save	save	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	76 cut	advcl
72	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	73 life	nmod:poss
73	life	life	NOUN	Number=Sing	71 save	obj
74	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	76 cut	nsubj
75	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	76 cut	aux
76	cut	cut	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	55 caught	parataxis
77	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	78 tail	nmod:poss
78	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	76 cut	obj
79	off	off	ADP	_	76 cut	compound:prt
80	with	with	ADP	_	82 knife	case
81	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	82 knife	det
82	knife	knife	NOUN	Number=Sing	76 cut	obl
83	,	,	PUNCT	_	87 advised	punct
84	and	and	CCONJ	_	87 advised	cc
85	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	87 advised	nsubj
86	strongly	strongly	ADV	_	87 advised	advmod
87	advised	advise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	76 cut	conj
88	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	87 advised	obj
89	to	to	PART	_	90 do	mark
90	do	do	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	87 advised	xcomp
91	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	92 same	det
92	same	same	ADJ	Degree=Pos	90 do	obj
93	.	.	PUNCT	_	5 hare	punct

Pragmatics

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	call	participle	the day hare not said here	hare's company				together property	vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	tell speech: assert	past			men = man				vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic
3	lose	past · perfect	hare	hare's life		account of hare's long tail	day	nearly property	vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent life=Eventuality
4	sit down	past · perfect	hare			a ant heap with hare's tail		down one of the holes	vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on heap=Location
5	catch	past · perfect · passive		some animal				hold of tail obj	vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP.beneficiary NP»: subject=Beneficiary hold=Theme
6	try	past							vn try-61.1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality
7	pull not said to happen	to-infinitive		hare				inside property	vn push-12-1 «NP V NP ADJP-Result»: agent=Agent he=Result
8	kill	to-infinitive		hare					vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme
9	save	to-infinitive	hare not said here	hare's life					vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent life=Theme
10	cut off	past · perfect	hare	hare's tail				with a knife	vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector tail=Eventuality
11	advise speech: other	past	hare	men = man				strongly property	vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP how S_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic
12	do not said to happen	to-infinitive	men = man not said here	the same					vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent same=Eventuality
14	account			hare's long tail					nom account «communication transitive»: of=patient
15	hold			tail					nom hold «act 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 75

The tree

Pragmatics

Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2, sentence 75