Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 66
When Odoggha Eyu arrived at Inkum, he asked the head slave to hand the keys of his brother’s house to him, so that he could satisfy himself that everything was in order.
Who acts: Odoggha, everything · What happens: arrive, ask, hand, satisfy, be · To what, where: Inkum, head slave, keys, Odoggha, order
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 (Odoggha, everything), 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 | SCONJ | _ | 4 arrived | mark |
| 2 | Odoggha | Odoggha | PROPN | Number=Sing | 4 arrived | nsubj |
| 3 | Eyu | Eyu | PROPN | Number=Sing | 2 Odoggha | flat |
| 4 | arrived | arrive | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 asked | advcl |
| 5 | at | at | ADP | _ | 6 Inkum | case |
| 6 | Inkum | Inkum | PROPN | Number=Sing | 4 arrived | obl |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 4 arrived | punct |
| 8 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 9 asked | nsubj |
| 9 | asked | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 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 | 9 asked | obj |
| 13 | to | to | PART | _ | 14 hand | mark |
| 14 | hand | hand | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 12 slave | acl |
| 15 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 16 keys | det |
| 16 | keys | key | NOUN | Number=Plur | 14 hand | obj |
| 17 | of | of | ADP | _ | 21 house | case |
| 18 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 19 brother | nmod:poss |
| 19 | brother | brother | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 house | nmod:poss |
| 20 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 19 brother | case |
| 21 | house | house | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 keys | nmod |
| 22 | to | to | ADP | _ | 23 him | case |
| 23 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 21 house | nmod |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 29 satisfy | punct |
| 25 | so | so | SCONJ | ExtPos=SCONJ | 29 satisfy | mark |
| 26 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 25 so | fixed |
| 27 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 29 satisfy | nsubj |
| 28 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 29 satisfy | aux |
| 29 | satisfy | satisfy | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 9 asked | conj |
| 30 | himself | himself | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes | 29 satisfy | obj |
| 31 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 35 order | mark |
| 32 | everything | everything | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Tot | 35 order | nsubj |
| 33 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 35 order | cop |
| 34 | in | in | ADP | _ | 35 order | case |
| 35 | order | order | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 satisfy | advcl |
| 36 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 9 asked | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | arrive | past | Odoggha | Inkum | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 2 | ask speech: ask | past | Odoggha | the head slave | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent slave=Recipient | ||||
| 3 | hand | to-infinitive | Odoggha not said here | the keys of Odoggha's brother's house to Odoggha | vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent key=Theme | ||||
| 4 | satisfy | could | Odoggha | Odoggha | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus himself=Experiencer | ||||
| 5 | is | past | everything | order | 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/pg70959/20/66/