Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 49

One of them said, “Let us make him blind in both eyes,” but the others would not agree, and said he should be killed at once, as if he were only blind he would know what was going on and would still be able to punish them.

Who acts: One, us, others, Oga · What happens: say, let, make, not agree, kill, be · To what, where: us, Oga, 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 (One, us, others, 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	One	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	4 said	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	3 them	case
3	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	1 One	nmod
4	said	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 Let	punct
6	“	"	PUNCT	_	7 Let	punct
7	Let	let	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 said	ccomp
8	us	we	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs	7 Let	obj
9	make	make	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 Let	xcomp
10	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 make	obj
11	blind	blind	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 make	xcomp
12	in	in	ADP	_	14 eyes	case
13	both	both	DET	PronType=Tot	14 eyes	det
14	eyes	eye	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 blind	obl
15	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 eyes	punct
16	”	"	PUNCT	_	7 Let	punct
17	but	but	CCONJ	_	22 agree	cc
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 others	det
19	others	other	NOUN	Number=Plur	22 agree	nsubj
20	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	22 agree	aux
21	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	22 agree	advmod
22	agree	agree	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 Let	conj
23	,	,	PUNCT	_	25 said	punct
24	and	and	CCONJ	_	25 said	cc
25	said	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 said	conj
26	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	29 killed	nsubj:pass
27	should	should	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	29 killed	aux
28	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	29 killed	aux:pass
29	killed	kill	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	25 said	ccomp
30	at	at	ADP	_	31 once	case
31	once	once	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Mult	29 killed	obl
32	,	,	PUNCT	_	38 blind	punct
33	as	as	SCONJ	_	38 blind	mark
34	if	if	SCONJ	_	38 blind	mark
35	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	38 blind	nsubj
36	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	38 blind	cop
37	only	only	ADV	_	38 blind	advmod
38	blind	blind	ADJ	Degree=Pos	25 said	ccomp
39	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	41 know	nsubj
40	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	41 know	aux
41	know	know	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	38 blind	parataxis
42	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	44 going	nsubj
43	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	44 going	aux
44	going	go	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	41 know	ccomp
45	on	on	ADP	_	44 going	compound:prt
46	and	and	CCONJ	_	50 able	cc
47	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	50 able	aux
48	still	still	ADV	_	50 able	advmod
49	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	50 able	cop
50	able	able	ADJ	Degree=Pos	41 know	conj
51	to	to	PART	_	52 punish	mark
52	punish	punish	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	50 able	xcomp
53	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	52 punish	obj
54	.	.	PUNCT	_	4 said	punct

Pragmatics

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	past	One of slaves				vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	let in a quote	infinitive		us			tree rules
3	make in a quote	infinitive	us not said here	Oga		blind property	vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset he=Product
4	not agree speech: agree	would	the others				vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
5	say speech: assert	past	One of slaves not said here				vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
6	kill	should · passive		Oga			vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
7	is a condition, not said to happen	past	Oga			blind property	tree rules
8	know	would	Oga				vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus
9	go on	past · progressive				what nsubj	vn function-105.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
10	is	would	Oga not said here		still	able property	tree rules
11	punish	to-infinitive	Oga not said here	slaves = slave			vn prosecute-33.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient

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/pg70959/20/49/

🌲 Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 49

The tree

Pragmatics

Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 49