Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 4
There was one thing, however, that vexed Chief Erim, and that was that Odoggha Eyu was his eldest son, and he knew that when he died Odoggha Eyu would return to Okuni, which was his mother’s birthplace.
Who acts: one thing, that, thing, Odoggha, Okuni · What happens: be, vex, know, die, return · To what, where: Chief Erim, eldest son, Okuni, birthplace · 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 (one thing, that, thing, Odoggha), 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 | There | there | PRON | PronType=Dem | 2 was | expl |
| 2 | was | be | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 4 thing | nummod |
| 4 | thing | thing | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 was | nsubj |
| 5 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 9 vexed | punct |
| 6 | however | however | ADV | _ | 9 vexed | advmod |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 9 vexed | punct |
| 8 | that | that | PRON | PronType=Rel | 9 vexed | nsubj |
| 9 | vexed | vex | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 2 was | conj |
| 10 | Chief | Chief | PROPN | Number=Sing | 11 Erim | compound |
| 11 | Erim | Erim | PROPN | Number=Sing | 9 vexed | obj |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 22 son | punct |
| 13 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 22 son | cc |
| 14 | that | that | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 22 son | nsubj |
| 15 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 22 son | cop |
| 16 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 22 son | mark |
| 17 | Odoggha | Odoggha | PROPN | Number=Sing | 22 son | nsubj |
| 18 | Eyu | Eyu | PROPN | Number=Sing | 17 Odoggha | flat |
| 19 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 22 son | cop |
| 20 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 22 son | nmod:poss |
| 21 | eldest | eld | ADJ | Degree=Sup | 22 son | amod |
| 22 | son | son | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 vexed | obl |
| 23 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 26 knew | punct |
| 24 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 26 knew | cc |
| 25 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 26 knew | nsubj |
| 26 | knew | know | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 2 was | parataxis |
| 27 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 30 died | mark |
| 28 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 30 died | advmod |
| 29 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 30 died | nsubj |
| 30 | died | die | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 26 knew | ccomp |
| 31 | Odoggha | Odoggha | PROPN | Number=Sing | 34 return | nsubj |
| 32 | Eyu | Eyu | PROPN | Number=Sing | 31 Odoggha | flat |
| 33 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 34 return | aux |
| 34 | return | return | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 30 died | ccomp |
| 35 | to | to | ADP | _ | 36 Okuni | case |
| 36 | Okuni | Okuni | PROPN | Number=Sing | 34 return | obl |
| 37 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 43 birthplace | punct |
| 38 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 43 birthplace | nsubj |
| 39 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 43 birthplace | cop |
| 40 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 41 mother | nmod:poss |
| 41 | mother | mother | NOUN | Number=Sing | 43 birthplace | nmod:poss |
| 42 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 41 mother | case |
| 43 | birthplace | birthplace | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 Okuni | appos |
| 44 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 was | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | be | past | one thing | there | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 2 | vex | past | that | Chief Erim | however property | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus erim=Experiencer | |||
| 3 | is a | past | that | Odoggha's eldest son | Odoggha nsubj | tree rules | |||
| 4 | know | past | thing | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | |||||
| 5 | die | past | thing | vn long-32.2 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | |||||
| 6 | return | would | Odoggha | Okuni | vn convert-26.6.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Patient to okuni=Result | ||||
| 7 | is a | past | Okuni | Odoggha's mother's birthplace | Odoggha's mother nmod:poss | 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/pg70959/20/4/