Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 50
At last it was decided to poison Oga Erim, so the slaves brought a very strong poison made from the horns of a ram and some of the hair from the mane cut into small pieces.
Who acts: slaves · What happens: decide, poison, bring, make, cut · To what, where: last, Oga, strong poison, horns, mane
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 (slaves), 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 | At | at | SCONJ | _ | 5 decided | mark |
| 2 | last | last | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 decided | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 decided | nsubj:pass |
| 4 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 decided | aux:pass |
| 5 | decided | decide | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 6 | to | to | PART | _ | 7 poison | mark |
| 7 | poison | poison | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 5 decided | xcomp |
| 8 | Oga | Oga | PROPN | Number=Sing | 7 poison | obj |
| 9 | Erim | Erim | PROPN | Number=Sing | 8 Oga | flat |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 14 brought | punct |
| 11 | so | so | ADV | _ | 14 brought | advmod |
| 12 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 13 slaves | det |
| 13 | slaves | slave | NOUN | Number=Plur | 14 brought | nsubj |
| 14 | brought | bring | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 decided | conj |
| 15 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 18 poison | det |
| 16 | very | very | ADV | _ | 17 strong | advmod |
| 17 | strong | strong | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 18 poison | amod |
| 18 | poison | poison | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 brought | obj |
| 19 | made | make | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 18 poison | acl |
| 20 | from | from | ADP | _ | 22 horns | case |
| 21 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 22 horns | det |
| 22 | horns | horn | NOUN | Number=Plur | 19 made | obl |
| 23 | of | of | ADP | _ | 25 ram | case |
| 24 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 25 ram | det |
| 25 | ram | ram | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 horns | nmod |
| 26 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 33 mane | cc |
| 27 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 33 mane | nsubj |
| 28 | of | of | ADP | _ | 30 hair | case |
| 29 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 30 hair | det |
| 30 | hair | hair | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 some | nmod |
| 31 | from | from | ADP | _ | 33 mane | case |
| 32 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 33 mane | det |
| 33 | mane | mane | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 ram | conj |
| 34 | cut | cut | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 33 mane | acl |
| 35 | into | into | ADP | _ | 37 pieces | case |
| 36 | small | small | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 37 pieces | amod |
| 37 | pieces | piece | NOUN | Number=Plur | 34 cut | obl |
| 38 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 decided | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | decide | past · passive | last | way nsubj:pass | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V PP.co-agent that S»: subject=Co-Agent clause=Topic | ||||
| 2 | poison not said to happen | to-infinitive | Oga | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent oga=Patient | |||||
| 3 | bring | past | the slaves | a strong poison | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent poison=Theme | ||||
| 4 | make | participle | a strong poison not said here | the horns of a ram and the mane | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V PP»: agent=Asset from horn=Material | ||||
| 5 | cut | participle | the mane not said here | into small pieces | vn cut-21.1-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent into piece=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/pg70959/20/50/