Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 34
If Chief Erim wanted to get better, he should at once send the wife and her son to Okuni, as they were both witches, and that in three months’ time he would be quite well again.
Who acts: Chief, wives · What happens: want, get, send, be · To what, where: wife, Okuni, time
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, wives), 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 | If | if | SCONJ | _ | 4 wanted | mark |
| 2 | Chief | Chief | PROPN | Number=Sing | 4 wanted | nsubj |
| 3 | Erim | Erim | PROPN | Number=Sing | 2 Chief | flat |
| 4 | wanted | want | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 13 send | advcl |
| 5 | to | to | PART | _ | 6 get | mark |
| 6 | get | get | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 4 wanted | xcomp |
| 7 | better | good | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 6 get | xcomp |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 4 wanted | punct |
| 9 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 13 send | nsubj |
| 10 | should | should | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 13 send | aux |
| 11 | at | at | ADP | _ | 12 once | case |
| 12 | once | once | ADV | NumForm=Word NumType=Mult | 13 send | advmod |
| 13 | send | send | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 15 wife | det |
| 15 | wife | wife | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 send | obj |
| 16 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 18 son | cc |
| 17 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 18 son | nmod:poss |
| 18 | son | son | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 wife | conj |
| 19 | to | to | ADP | _ | 20 Okuni | case |
| 20 | Okuni | Okuni | PROPN | Number=Sing | 13 send | obl |
| 21 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 26 witches | punct |
| 22 | as | as | ADP | _ | 26 witches | case |
| 23 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 26 witches | nsubj |
| 24 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 26 witches | cop |
| 25 | both | both | DET | PronType=Tot | 26 witches | det |
| 26 | witches | witch | NOUN | Number=Plur | 13 send | obl |
| 27 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 29 that | punct |
| 28 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 29 that | cc |
| 29 | that | that | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 26 witches | conj |
| 30 | in | in | ADP | _ | 32 months | case |
| 31 | three | three | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 32 months | nummod |
| 32 | months | month | NOUN | Number=Plur | 34 time | nmod:poss |
| 33 | ’ | 's | PART | _ | 32 months | case |
| 34 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 that | nmod |
| 35 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 40 again | nsubj |
| 36 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 40 again | aux |
| 37 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 40 again | cop |
| 38 | quite | quite | ADV | _ | 40 again | advmod |
| 39 | well | well | ADV | Degree=Pos | 40 again | advmod |
| 40 | again | again | ADV | _ | 34 time | acl:relcl |
| 41 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 13 send | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | want a condition, not said to happen | past | Chief | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | |||||
| 2 | get not said to happen | to-infinitive | Chief not said here | good property | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer | ||||
| 3 | send | should | Chief | the wife and poisoner's son | Okuni | once property | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent wife=Theme to okuni=Destination | ||
| 4 | is | past | wives = wife | as both witches; that three months's time conj | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | is | would | Chief | three months's time not said here | again, well property | 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/pg70959/20/34/