Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 35
The ju-ju man also said that if it had not been for the small ju-ju in the middle of Chief Erim’s compound, who had been fighting the witches for him, he would have been dead long before.
Who acts: ju man, life, compound, Chief · What happens: say, have, not be, fight, be, compound · To what, where: middle, witches · 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 man, life, compound, Chief), 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 | 5 man | det |
| 2 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 ju | compound |
| 3 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 2 ju | punct |
| 4 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 man | compound |
| 5 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 said | nsubj |
| 6 | also | also | ADV | _ | 7 said | advmod |
| 7 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 8 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 11 had | mark |
| 9 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 11 had | mark |
| 10 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 11 had | nsubj |
| 11 | had | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 said | ccomp |
| 12 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 19 ju | advmod |
| 13 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 19 ju | cop |
| 14 | for | for | ADP | _ | 19 ju | case |
| 15 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 19 ju | det |
| 16 | small | small | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 19 ju | amod |
| 17 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 ju | compound |
| 18 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 17 ju | punct |
| 19 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 had | obl |
| 20 | in | in | ADP | _ | 22 middle | case |
| 21 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 22 middle | det |
| 22 | middle | middle | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 ju | nmod |
| 23 | of | of | ADP | _ | 27 compound | case |
| 24 | Chief | Chief | PROPN | Number=Sing | 27 compound | nmod:poss |
| 25 | Erim | Erim | PROPN | Number=Sing | 24 Chief | flat |
| 26 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 24 Chief | case |
| 27 | compound | compound | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 middle | nmod |
| 28 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 32 fighting | punct |
| 29 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 32 fighting | nsubj |
| 30 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 32 fighting | aux |
| 31 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 32 fighting | aux |
| 32 | fighting | fight | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 27 compound | acl:relcl |
| 33 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 34 witches | det |
| 34 | witches | witch | NOUN | Number=Plur | 32 fighting | obj |
| 35 | for | for | ADP | _ | 36 him | case |
| 36 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 34 witches | nmod |
| 37 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 42 dead | punct |
| 38 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 42 dead | nsubj |
| 39 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 42 dead | aux |
| 40 | have | have | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 42 dead | aux |
| 41 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 42 dead | cop |
| 42 | dead | dead | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 34 witches | parataxis |
| 43 | long | long | ADV | Degree=Pos | 44 before | advmod |
| 44 | before | before | ADV | _ | 42 dead | advmod |
| 45 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 7 said | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | past | the ju man | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 2 | have a condition, not said to happen | past | life | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 3 | not is | participle | the middle of Chief's compound | for the small ju ju | tree rules | ||||
| 4 | fight | past · perfect · progressive | Chief's compound | the witches | for Chief | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent witch=Co-Agent | |||
| 5 | is | would · perfect | Chief | before, dead property | tree rules | ||||
| 6 | compound | Chief | nom compound «cognition transitive»: 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/pg70959/20/35/