Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 2, sentence 88
Very frequently the men slaves were severely flogged by order of the chief, if he were not satisfied with the amount of work done on the farm, or if they annoyed him in any way.
Who acts: order, crow · What happens: flog, not be, do, order, amount · To what, where: men slaves, amount, farm, chief, work
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 (order, crow), 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 | Very | very | ADV | _ | 2 frequently | advmod |
| 2 | frequently | frequently | ADV | _ | 5 slaves | advmod |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 men | det |
| 4 | men | man | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 slaves | compound |
| 5 | slaves | slave | NOUN | Number=Plur | 8 flogged | nsubj:pass |
| 6 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 flogged | aux:pass |
| 7 | severely | severely | ADV | _ | 8 flogged | advmod |
| 8 | flogged | flog | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 9 | by | by | ADP | _ | 10 order | case |
| 10 | order | order | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 flogged | obl |
| 11 | of | of | ADP | _ | 13 chief | case |
| 12 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 13 chief | det |
| 13 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 order | nmod |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 19 satisfied | punct |
| 15 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 19 satisfied | mark |
| 16 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 19 satisfied | nsubj |
| 17 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 19 satisfied | cop |
| 18 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 19 satisfied | advmod |
| 19 | satisfied | satisfied | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 flogged | conj |
| 20 | with | with | ADP | _ | 22 amount | case |
| 21 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 22 amount | det |
| 22 | amount | amount | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 satisfied | obl |
| 23 | of | of | ADP | _ | 24 work | case |
| 24 | work | work | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 amount | nmod |
| 25 | done | do | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 22 amount | acl |
| 26 | on | on | ADP | _ | 28 farm | case |
| 27 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 28 farm | det |
| 28 | farm | farm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 done | obl |
| 29 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 33 annoyed | punct |
| 30 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 33 annoyed | cc |
| 31 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 33 annoyed | mark |
| 32 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 33 annoyed | nsubj |
| 33 | annoyed | annoyed | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 flogged | conj |
| 34 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 33 annoyed | obl |
| 35 | in | in | ADP | _ | 37 way | case |
| 36 | any | any | DET | PronType=Ind | 37 way | det |
| 37 | way | way | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 annoyed | obl |
| 38 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 8 flogged | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | flog | past · passive | order of the chief | men slaves | severely property | vn spank-18.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient | |||
| 2 | not is a condition, not said to happen | past | crow | with the amount of work; satisfied property | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | do | participle | the amount of work not said here | the farm | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 4 | order | the chief | nom order «communication transitive»: of=patient | ||||||
| 5 | amount | work | nom amount «possession 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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/19/88/