Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 28
When the head slave came, he said to Chief Erim, “I have been your slave ever since I was a small boy.
Who acts: head slave, ju · What happens: come, say, be · To what, where: Chief, slave, small boy · 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 (head slave, 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 | When | when | SCONJ | _ | 5 came | mark |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 slave | det |
| 3 | head | head | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 slave | compound |
| 4 | slave | slave | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 came | nsubj |
| 5 | came | come | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 said | advcl |
| 6 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 5 came | punct |
| 7 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 8 said | nsubj |
| 8 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 9 | to | to | ADP | _ | 10 Chief | case |
| 10 | Chief | Chief | PROPN | Number=Sing | 8 said | obl |
| 11 | Erim | Erim | PROPN | Number=Sing | 10 Chief | flat |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 18 slave | punct |
| 13 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 18 slave | punct |
| 14 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 18 slave | nsubj |
| 15 | have | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 18 slave | aux |
| 16 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 18 slave | cop |
| 17 | your | your | PRON | Case=Gen Person=2 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 18 slave | nmod:poss |
| 18 | slave | slave | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 Chief | conj |
| 19 | ever | ever | ADV | PronType=Ind | 18 slave | advmod |
| 20 | since | since | SCONJ | _ | 25 boy | mark |
| 21 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 25 boy | nsubj |
| 22 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 25 boy | cop |
| 23 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 25 boy | det |
| 24 | small | small | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 25 boy | amod |
| 25 | boy | boy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 said | ccomp |
| 26 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 8 said | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | come | past | the head slave | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 2 | say speech: assert | past | ju | Chief and your slave | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to chief=Recipient | ||||
| 3 | is a in a quote | present · perfect | ju | your slave | ever | your nmod:poss | tree rules | ||
| 4 | is a in a quote | past | ju | a small boy | tree rules |
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/pg70959/20/28/