Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 47
When Chief Erim had been dead two years, the head slave called all the other slaves together, and said that the time had arrived when Oga Erim must die, as he did not think that they would be suspected if they were careful.
Who acts: Chief, head slave, time, Oga, slaves · What happens: be, call, say, arrive, die, not think · To what, where: other slaves, slaves · 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 (Chief, head slave, time, Oga), 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 | ADV | PronType=Int | 6 dead | advmod |
| 2 | Chief | Chief | PROPN | Number=Sing | 6 dead | nsubj |
| 3 | Erim | Erim | PROPN | Number=Sing | 2 Chief | flat |
| 4 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 dead | aux |
| 5 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 6 dead | cop |
| 6 | dead | dead | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 years | amod |
| 7 | two | two | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 8 years | nummod |
| 8 | years | year | NOUN | Number=Plur | 21 said | obl:unmarked |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 12 slave | punct |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 slave | det |
| 11 | head | head | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 slave | compound |
| 12 | slave | slave | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 years | conj |
| 13 | called | call | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 12 slave | acl |
| 14 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 17 slaves | det:predet |
| 15 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 17 slaves | det |
| 16 | other | other | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 17 slaves | amod |
| 17 | slaves | slave | NOUN | Number=Plur | 13 called | xcomp |
| 18 | together | together | ADV | _ | 13 called | advmod |
| 19 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 21 said | punct |
| 20 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 21 said | cc |
| 21 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 22 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 26 arrived | mark |
| 23 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 24 time | det |
| 24 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 arrived | nsubj |
| 25 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 26 arrived | aux |
| 26 | arrived | arrive | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 31 die | advcl |
| 27 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 31 die | advmod |
| 28 | Oga | Oga | PROPN | Number=Sing | 31 die | nsubj |
| 29 | Erim | Erim | PROPN | Number=Sing | 28 Oga | flat |
| 30 | must | must | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 31 die | aux |
| 31 | die | die | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 21 said | ccomp |
| 32 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 37 think | punct |
| 33 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 37 think | mark |
| 34 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 37 think | nsubj |
| 35 | did | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 37 think | aux |
| 36 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 37 think | advmod |
| 37 | think | think | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 31 die | conj |
| 38 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 42 suspected | mark |
| 39 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 42 suspected | nsubj:pass |
| 40 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 42 suspected | aux |
| 41 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 42 suspected | aux:pass |
| 42 | suspected | suspect | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 37 think | ccomp |
| 43 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 46 careful | mark |
| 44 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 46 careful | nsubj |
| 45 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 46 careful | cop |
| 46 | careful | careful | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 42 suspected | advcl |
| 47 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 21 said | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past · perfect | Chief | dead property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | call | participle | the head slave not said here | all other slaves | together property | vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||
| 3 | say speech: assert | past | year | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 4 | arrive | past · perfect | the time | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 5 | die | must | Oga | vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | |||||
| 6 | not think speech: other | past · do-support | Oga | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | |||||
| 7 | suspect | would · passive | slaves = slave | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Attribute | |||||
| 8 | is a condition, not said to happen | past | slaves = slave | careful 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/pg70959/20/47/