Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 11
But Chief Erim was angry, and said that the head slave’s wife ought to know better and should set a good example to the other slaves.
Who acts: Chief Erim, wife · What happens: be, say, know, set · To what, where: good example · 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 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Chief Erim, wife), 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 | _ | 5 angry | cc |
| 2 | Chief | Chief | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 Erim | compound |
| 3 | Erim | Erim | PROPN | Number=Sing | 5 angry | nsubj |
| 4 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 angry | cop |
| 5 | angry | angry | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 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 | 5 angry | conj |
| 9 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 17 know | mark |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 slave | det |
| 11 | head | head | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 slave | compound |
| 12 | slave | slave | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 wife | nmod:poss |
| 13 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 12 slave | case |
| 14 | wife | wife | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 know | nsubj |
| 15 | ought | ought | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 17 know | aux |
| 16 | to | to | PART | _ | 17 know | mark |
| 17 | know | know | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 8 said | ccomp |
| 18 | better | well | ADV | Degree=Cmp | 17 know | advmod |
| 19 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 21 set | cc |
| 20 | should | should | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 21 set | aux |
| 21 | set | set | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 17 know | conj |
| 22 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 24 example | det |
| 23 | good | good | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 24 example | amod |
| 24 | example | example | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 set | obj |
| 25 | to | to | ADP | _ | 28 slaves | case |
| 26 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 28 slaves | det |
| 27 | other | other | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 28 slaves | amod |
| 28 | slaves | slave | NOUN | Number=Plur | 21 set | obl |
| 29 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 angry | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | Chief Erim | angry property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | say speech: assert | past | Chief Erim not said here | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 3 | know | ought | the head slave's wife | well property | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | ||||
| 4 | set | should | the head slave's wife not said here | a good example | to the other slaves | vn other_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Patient example=Result |
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/pg70959/20/11/