Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 74
Odoggha Eyu stood there silent for some time, wondering what had become of all his father’s wealth and how he could manage to pay all the debts he had incurred on account of the funeral expenses.
Who acts: Odoggha · What happens: stand, wonder, become, manage, pay, incur · To what, where: debts, account, funeral expenses · 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 (Odoggha), 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 | Odoggha | Odoggha | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 stood | nsubj |
| 2 | Eyu | Eyu | PROPN | Number=Sing | 1 Odoggha | flat |
| 3 | stood | stand | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | there | there | ADV | PronType=Dem | 3 stood | advmod |
| 5 | silent | silent | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 stood | xcomp |
| 6 | for | for | ADP | _ | 8 time | case |
| 7 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 8 time | det |
| 8 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 stood | obl |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 10 wondering | punct |
| 10 | wondering | wonder | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 3 stood | parataxis |
| 11 | what | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 13 become | nsubj |
| 12 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 13 become | aux |
| 13 | become | become | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 10 wondering | ccomp |
| 14 | of | of | ADP | _ | 19 wealth | case |
| 15 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 17 father | det:predet |
| 16 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 17 father | nmod:poss |
| 17 | father | father | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 wealth | nmod:poss |
| 18 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 17 father | case |
| 19 | wealth | wealth | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 become | obl |
| 20 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 24 manage | cc |
| 21 | how | how | ADV | PronType=Int | 24 manage | advmod |
| 22 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 24 manage | nsubj |
| 23 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 24 manage | aux |
| 24 | manage | manage | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 13 become | conj |
| 25 | to | to | PART | _ | 26 pay | mark |
| 26 | pay | pay | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 24 manage | xcomp |
| 27 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 29 debts | det:predet |
| 28 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 29 debts | det |
| 29 | debts | debt | NOUN | Number=Plur | 26 pay | obj |
| 30 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 32 incurred | nsubj |
| 31 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 32 incurred | aux |
| 32 | incurred | incur | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 29 debts | acl:relcl |
| 33 | on | on | ADP | _ | 34 account | case |
| 34 | account | account | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 incurred | obl |
| 35 | of | of | ADP | _ | 38 expenses | case |
| 36 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 38 expenses | det |
| 37 | funeral | funeral | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 expenses | compound |
| 38 | expenses | expense | NOUN | Number=Plur | 34 account | nmod |
| 39 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 stood | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | stand | past | Odoggha | there | time | silent property | vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||
| 2 | wonder speech: ask | gerund | vn care-88.1-1 «NP V what S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | ||||||
| 3 | become | past · perfect | of Odoggha's father's wealth; what nsubj | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient | |||||
| 4 | manage | could | Odoggha | vn succeed-74-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | |||||
| 5 | pay | to-infinitive | Odoggha not said here | all debts | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent debt=Asset | ||||
| 6 | incur | past · perfect | Odoggha | all debts not said here | account of the funeral expenses | tree rules | |||
| 7 | account | the funeral expenses | nom account «communication transitive»: of=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/pg70959/20/74/