Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 17
The head slave then went to a clever poisoner who lived not far away, and bought two powerful ju-jus; one would give the person against whom the ju-ju was made the “dry cough” (consumption), and the other would give him paralysis.
Who acts: head slave, clever poisoner, two, one, other · What happens: go, not live, buy, jus, give, make · To what, where: clever poisoner, person, ju ju, paralysis
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 (head slave, clever poisoner, two, one), 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 slave | det |
| 2 | head | head | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 slave | compound |
| 3 | slave | slave | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 went | nsubj |
| 4 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 5 went | advmod |
| 5 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | to | to | ADP | _ | 9 poisoner | case |
| 7 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 9 poisoner | det |
| 8 | clever | clever | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 9 poisoner | amod |
| 9 | poisoner | poisoner | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 went | obl |
| 10 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 11 lived | nsubj |
| 11 | lived | live | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 poisoner | acl:relcl |
| 12 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 11 lived | advmod |
| 13 | far | far | ADV | Degree=Pos | 14 away | advmod |
| 14 | away | away | ADV | _ | 11 lived | advmod |
| 15 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 17 bought | punct |
| 16 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 17 bought | cc |
| 17 | bought | buy | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 went | conj |
| 18 | two | two | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 22 jus | nsubj |
| 19 | powerful | powerful | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 22 jus | amod |
| 20 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 jus | compound |
| 21 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 20 ju | punct |
| 22 | jus | jus | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 bought | ccomp |
| 23 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 26 give | punct |
| 24 | one | one | PRON | Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 26 give | nsubj |
| 25 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 26 give | aux |
| 26 | give | give | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 5 went | parataxis |
| 27 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 28 person | det |
| 28 | person | person | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 give | obj |
| 29 | against | against | ADP | _ | 30 whom | case |
| 30 | whom | whom | PRON | PronType=Rel | 26 give | obl |
| 31 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 34 ju | det |
| 32 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 ju | compound |
| 33 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 32 ju | punct |
| 34 | ju | ju | PROPN | Number=Sing | 36 made | nsubj:pass |
| 35 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 36 made | aux:pass |
| 36 | made | make | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 30 whom | acl:relcl |
| 37 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 40 cough | det |
| 38 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 40 cough | punct |
| 39 | dry | dry | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 40 cough | amod |
| 40 | cough | cough | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 made | obj |
| 41 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 40 cough | punct |
| 42 | ( | ( | PUNCT | _ | 43 consumption | punct |
| 43 | consumption | consumption | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 cough | appos |
| 44 | ) | ) | PUNCT | _ | 43 consumption | punct |
| 45 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 50 give | punct |
| 46 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 50 give | cc |
| 47 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 48 other | det |
| 48 | other | other | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 50 give | nsubj |
| 49 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 50 give | aux |
| 50 | give | give | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 26 give | conj |
| 51 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 50 give | iobj |
| 52 | paralysis | paralysis | NOUN | Number=Sing | 50 give | obj |
| 53 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 went | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | go | past | the head slave | a clever poisoner | then | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to poisoner=Initial_Location | |||
| 2 | not live | past | a clever poisoner | away property | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 3 | buy | past | the head slave not said here | vn accept-77.1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 4 | jus | two | tree rules | ||||||
| 5 | give | would | one | the person | whom obl | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent person=Theme | |||
| 6 | make | past · passive | the ju ju | the dry cough obj | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP NP»: subject=Beneficiary cough=Product | ||||
| 7 | give | would | the other | paralysis | person | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient paralysis=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/pg70959/20/17/