Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 67
But the head slave told him that it was the custom for him to bury the dead body first, and that after the feast the keys would be handed over; he also added that everything in the house was as his brother Oga had left it, and that all the doors were locked.
Who acts: head slave, order, Odoggha, everything · What happens: tell, be, bury, hand over, add, leave · To what, where: Odoggha, custom, dead body, keys, brother, doors · 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 (head slave, order, 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 | But | but | CCONJ | _ | 5 told | cc |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 slave | det |
| 3 | head | head | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 slave | compound |
| 4 | slave | slave | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 told | nsubj |
| 5 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 told | iobj |
| 7 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 11 custom | mark |
| 8 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 11 custom | nsubj |
| 9 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 11 custom | cop |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 custom | det |
| 11 | custom | custom | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 told | ccomp |
| 12 | for | for | ADP | _ | 13 him | case |
| 13 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 11 custom | nmod |
| 14 | to | to | PART | _ | 15 bury | mark |
| 15 | bury | bury | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 5 told | xcomp |
| 16 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 18 body | det |
| 17 | dead | dead | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 18 body | amod |
| 18 | body | body | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 bury | obj |
| 19 | first | first | ADV | NumForm=Word NumType=Ord | 15 bury | advmod |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 30 handed | punct |
| 21 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 30 handed | cc |
| 22 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 25 feast | mark |
| 23 | after | after | ADP | _ | 25 feast | case |
| 24 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 25 feast | det |
| 25 | feast | feast | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 handed | advcl |
| 26 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 27 keys | det |
| 27 | keys | key | NOUN | Number=Plur | 30 handed | nsubj:pass |
| 28 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 30 handed | aux |
| 29 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 30 handed | aux:pass |
| 30 | handed | hand | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 5 told | conj |
| 31 | over | over | ADP | _ | 30 handed | compound:prt |
| 32 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 35 added | punct |
| 33 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 35 added | nsubj |
| 34 | also | also | ADV | _ | 35 added | advmod |
| 35 | added | add | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 told | conj |
| 36 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 47 left | mark |
| 37 | everything | everything | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Tot | 44 brother | nsubj |
| 38 | in | in | ADP | _ | 40 house | case |
| 39 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 40 house | det |
| 40 | house | house | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 everything | nmod |
| 41 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 44 brother | cop |
| 42 | as | as | ADP | _ | 44 brother | case |
| 43 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 44 brother | nmod:poss |
| 44 | brother | brother | NOUN | Number=Sing | 47 left | nsubj:pass |
| 45 | Oga | Oga | PROPN | Number=Sing | 44 brother | appos |
| 46 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 47 left | aux |
| 47 | left | leave | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 35 added | advcl |
| 48 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 47 left | obj |
| 49 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 56 locked | punct |
| 50 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 56 locked | cc |
| 51 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 56 locked | mark |
| 52 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 54 doors | det:predet |
| 53 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 54 doors | det |
| 54 | doors | door | NOUN | Number=Plur | 56 locked | nsubj:pass |
| 55 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 56 locked | aux:pass |
| 56 | locked | lock | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 47 left | conj |
| 57 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 told | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | tell speech: assert | past | the head slave | Odoggha | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 2 | is a | past | order | the custom | for Odoggha | tree rules | |||
| 3 | bury not said to happen | to-infinitive | the head slave not said here | the dead body | first property | vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent body=Theme | |||
| 4 | hand over | would · passive | the keys | the feast advcl | vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | ||||
| 5 | add speech: assert | past | Odoggha | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 6 | is | past | everything in the house | as Odoggha's brother; Odoggha nmod:poss; Oga appos | tree rules | ||||
| 7 | leave | past · perfect · passive | Odoggha's brother | order obj | vn sustain-55.6-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Theme it=Attribute | ||||
| 8 | lock | past · passive | all doors | vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP»: subject=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/pg70959/20/67/