Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 3, sentence 76
The slave replied that he had received nothing himself, but suggested that the spirit of his late father had taken all the rods away.
Who acts: slave, Odoggha · What happens: reply, receive, suggest, take · To what, where: nothing, spirit · 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 (slave, 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 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 slave | det |
| 2 | slave | slave | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 replied | nsubj |
| 3 | replied | reply | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 7 received | mark |
| 5 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 7 received | nsubj |
| 6 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 received | aux |
| 7 | received | receive | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 3 replied | ccomp |
| 8 | nothing | nothing | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Neg | 7 received | obj |
| 9 | himself | himself | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Emp Reflex=Yes | 8 nothing | appos |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 12 suggested | punct |
| 11 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 12 suggested | cc |
| 12 | suggested | suggest | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 replied | parataxis |
| 13 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 21 taken | mark |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 15 spirit | det |
| 15 | spirit | spirit | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 taken | nsubj:pass |
| 16 | of | of | ADP | _ | 19 father | case |
| 17 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 19 father | nmod:poss |
| 18 | late | late | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 19 father | amod |
| 19 | father | father | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 spirit | nmod |
| 20 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 21 taken | aux |
| 21 | taken | take | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 12 suggested | ccomp |
| 22 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 24 rods | det:predet |
| 23 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 24 rods | det |
| 24 | rods | rod | NOUN | Number=Plur | 21 taken | obj |
| 25 | away | away | ADV | _ | 21 taken | advmod |
| 26 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 replied | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | reply speech: assert | past | the slave | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 2 | receive | past · perfect | Odoggha | nothing | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nothing=Theme | ||||
| 3 | suggest speech: suggest | past | vn say-37.7-1-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | ||||||
| 4 | take | past · perfect · passive | the spirit of Odoggha's late father | all rods obj; away property | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: subject=Theme rod=Destination |
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/pg70959/20/76/