Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 27

He wanted to go to the ju-ju man to ask him what was the cause of his sickness, but being unable to move about he sent for his head slave and told him to go to the ju-ju man and tell him to come to his house so that he could consult him.

Who acts: ju · What happens: want, go, ask, be, move, send · To what, where: ju, cause, house, side · 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 (ju), 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	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 wanted	nsubj
2	wanted	want	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 go	mark
4	go	go	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 wanted	xcomp
5	to	to	ADP	_	10 man	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 man	det
7	ju	ju	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 ju	compound
8	-	-	PUNCT	_	7 ju	punct
9	ju	ju	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 man	compound
10	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 go	obl
11	to	to	PART	_	12 ask	mark
12	ask	ask	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 go	advcl
13	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 ask	obj
14	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	17 cause	nsubj
15	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	17 cause	cop
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 cause	det
17	cause	cause	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 ask	parataxis
18	of	of	ADP	_	20 sickness	case
19	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	20 sickness	nmod:poss
20	sickness	sickness	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 cause	nmod
21	,	,	PUNCT	_	24 unable	punct
22	but	but	CCONJ	_	24 unable	cc
23	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	24 unable	cop
24	unable	unable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 wanted	conj
25	to	to	PART	_	26 move	mark
26	move	move	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	24 unable	xcomp
27	about	about	SCONJ	_	29 sent	mark
28	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	29 sent	nsubj
29	sent	send	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	26 move	ccomp
30	for	for	ADP	_	33 slave	case
31	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	33 slave	nmod:poss
32	head	head	NOUN	Number=Sing	33 slave	compound
33	slave	slave	NOUN	Number=Sing	29 sent	obl
34	and	and	CCONJ	_	35 told	cc
35	told	tell	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 wanted	conj
36	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	35 told	iobj
37	to	to	PART	_	38 go	mark
38	go	go	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	35 told	xcomp
39	to	to	ADP	_	44 man	case
40	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	44 man	det
41	ju	ju	NOUN	Number=Sing	43 ju	compound
42	-	-	PUNCT	_	41 ju	punct
43	ju	ju	NOUN	Number=Sing	44 man	compound
44	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	38 go	obl
45	and	and	CCONJ	_	46 tell	cc
46	tell	tell	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	38 go	conj
47	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	46 tell	iobj
48	to	to	PART	_	49 come	mark
49	come	come	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	46 tell	xcomp
50	to	to	ADP	_	52 house	case
51	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	52 house	nmod:poss
52	house	house	NOUN	Number=Sing	49 come	obl
53	so	so	SCONJ	ExtPos=SCONJ	57 consult	mark
54	that	that	SCONJ	_	53 so	fixed
55	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	57 consult	nsubj
56	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	57 consult	aux
57	consult	consult	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	49 come	advcl
58	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	57 consult	obj
59	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 wanted	punct

Pragmatics

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	other	roles by
1	want	past	ju					vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme
2	go not said to happen	to-infinitive	ju not said here				to the ju man	vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to man=Initial_Location
3	ask speech: ask	to-infinitive	ju not said here		ju			vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient
4	is a	past		the cause			of ju's sickness; what nsubj	tree rules
5	is	gerund	ju not said here				unable property	tree rules
6	move	to-infinitive	ju not said here					tree rules
7	send	past	ju				for ju's head slave	vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
8	tell speech: assert	past	ju not said here		ju			vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic
9	go not said to happen	to-infinitive	ju not said here				to the ju man	vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to man=Initial_Location
10	tell speech: assert	infinitive	ju not said here		ju			vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic
11	come not said to happen	to-infinitive	ju not said here			ju's house		vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to house=Initial_Location
12	consult	could	ju	side				vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=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/pg70959/20/27/

🌲 Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 27

The tree

Pragmatics

Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 27