Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 73
The head slave then handed the keys to Odoggha Eyu, who went first of all to the house where his father always kept his rods; when he opened the door and went inside there were no rods to be seen.
Who acts: head slave, father, rods · What happens: hand, go, keep, open, be, see · To what, where: keys, Odoggha, house, rods, door
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, father, rods), 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 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 slave | det |
| 2 | head | head | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 slave | compound |
| 3 | slave | slave | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 handed | nsubj |
| 4 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 5 handed | advmod |
| 5 | handed | hand | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 keys | det |
| 7 | keys | key | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 handed | obj |
| 8 | to | to | ADP | _ | 9 Odoggha | case |
| 9 | Odoggha | Odoggha | PROPN | Number=Sing | 5 handed | obl |
| 10 | Eyu | Eyu | PROPN | Number=Sing | 9 Odoggha | flat |
| 11 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 13 went | punct |
| 12 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 13 went | nsubj |
| 13 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 handed | conj |
| 14 | first | first | ADV | NumForm=Word NumType=Ord | 13 went | advmod |
| 15 | of | of | ADP | _ | 16 all | case |
| 16 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 14 first | obl |
| 17 | to | to | ADP | _ | 19 house | case |
| 18 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 19 house | det |
| 19 | house | house | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 went | obl |
| 20 | where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 24 kept | advmod |
| 21 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 22 father | nmod:poss |
| 22 | father | father | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 kept | nsubj |
| 23 | always | always | ADV | PronType=Tot | 24 kept | advmod |
| 24 | kept | keep | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 19 house | acl |
| 25 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 26 rods | nmod:poss |
| 26 | rods | rod | NOUN | Number=Plur | 24 kept | obj |
| 27 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 30 opened | punct |
| 28 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 30 opened | advmod |
| 29 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 30 opened | nsubj |
| 30 | opened | open | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 handed | parataxis |
| 31 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 32 door | det |
| 32 | door | door | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 opened | obj |
| 33 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 34 went | cc |
| 34 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 30 opened | conj |
| 35 | inside | inside | ADV | _ | 34 went | advmod |
| 36 | there | there | PRON | PronType=Dem | 37 were | expl |
| 37 | were | be | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 34 went | conj |
| 38 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 39 rods | det |
| 39 | rods | rod | NOUN | Number=Plur | 37 were | nsubj |
| 40 | to | to | PART | _ | 42 seen | mark |
| 41 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 42 seen | aux:pass |
| 42 | seen | see | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 39 rods | acl |
| 43 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 handed | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | hand | past | the head slave | the keys | Odoggha | then | vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent key=Theme to odoggha=Destination | ||
| 2 | go | past | the house | who nsubj; first property | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to house=Initial_Location | ||||
| 3 | keep | past | Odoggha's father | father's rods | always property | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rod=Theme | |||
| 4 | open | past | father | the door | vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location door=Theme | ||||
| 5 | go | past | father not said here | inside property | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 6 | be | past | no rods | there | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 7 | see | to-infinitive · passive | no rods not said here | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V» |
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/pg70959/20/73/