Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 19
All the slaves went about their work as usual until the time arrived for the new yams to be dug, at which season it was customary for the people to give presents to their chiefs.
Who acts: slaves, time, season · What happens: go, arrive, dig, be, give, work · To what, where: new yams, customary, presents, chiefs
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 (slaves, time, season), 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 | All | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 3 slaves | det:predet |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 slaves | det |
| 3 | slaves | slave | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 went | nsubj |
| 4 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | about | about | ADP | _ | 7 work | case |
| 6 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 7 work | nmod:poss |
| 7 | work | work | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 went | obl |
| 8 | as | as | ADP | _ | 9 usual | case |
| 9 | usual | usual | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 went | obl |
| 10 | until | until | SCONJ | _ | 13 arrived | mark |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 time | det |
| 12 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 arrived | nsubj |
| 13 | arrived | arrive | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 went | advcl |
| 14 | for | for | SCONJ | _ | 20 dug | mark |
| 15 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 17 yams | det |
| 16 | new | new | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 17 yams | amod |
| 17 | yams | yam | NOUN | Number=Plur | 20 dug | nsubj:pass |
| 18 | to | to | PART | _ | 20 dug | mark |
| 19 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 20 dug | aux:pass |
| 20 | dug | dig | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 13 arrived | ccomp |
| 21 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 27 customary | punct |
| 22 | at | at | ADP | _ | 24 season | case |
| 23 | which | which | DET | PronType=Int | 24 season | det |
| 24 | season | season | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 customary | nsubj |
| 25 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 27 customary | nsubj |
| 26 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 27 customary | cop |
| 27 | customary | customary | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 dug | obl |
| 28 | for | for | ADP | _ | 30 people | case |
| 29 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 30 people | det |
| 30 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 27 customary | nmod |
| 31 | to | to | PART | _ | 32 give | mark |
| 32 | give | give | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 20 dug | advcl |
| 33 | presents | present | NOUN | Number=Plur | 32 give | obj |
| 34 | to | to | ADP | _ | 36 chiefs | case |
| 35 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 36 chiefs | nmod:poss |
| 36 | chiefs | chief | NOUN | Number=Plur | 32 give | obl |
| 37 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 went | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | go | past | all slaves | about slaves's work; as usual | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme about work=Location | ||||
| 2 | arrive | past | the time | tree rules | |||||
| 3 | dig | to-infinitive · passive | the new yams | vn poke-19-1-1-1 «NP V NP.theme»: subject=Theme | |||||
| 4 | is a | past | which season | customary | for the people; suspicion nsubj | tree rules | |||
| 5 | give | to-infinitive | presents | slaves's chiefs | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent present=Theme to chief=Recipient | ||||
| 6 | work | slaves = slave | nom work «act intransitive»: poss=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/pg70959/20/19/