Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 4, sentence 15
She was much admired by all the men and animals, and many of them wanted to marry her, and spoke to her father on the subject, but he placed such a high dowry on his daughter that no one was rich enough to pay it.
Who acts: men, many, man, high dowry · What happens: admire, want, marry, speak, place, be · To what, where: BUCK, subject, high dowry, dowry · 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 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (men, many, man, high dowry), 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 | She | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 admired | nsubj |
| 2 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 admired | aux:pass |
| 3 | much | much | ADV | _ | 4 admired | advmod |
| 4 | admired | admire | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 5 | by | by | ADP | _ | 8 men | case |
| 6 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 8 men | det:predet |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 men | det |
| 8 | men | man | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 admired | obl |
| 9 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 10 animals | cc |
| 10 | animals | animal | NOUN | Number=Plur | 8 men | conj |
| 11 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 16 wanted | punct |
| 12 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 16 wanted | cc |
| 13 | many | many | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 16 wanted | nsubj |
| 14 | of | of | ADP | _ | 15 them | case |
| 15 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 13 many | nmod |
| 16 | wanted | want | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 admired | parataxis |
| 17 | to | to | PART | _ | 18 marry | mark |
| 18 | marry | marry | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 16 wanted | xcomp |
| 19 | her | she | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 18 marry | obj |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 22 spoke | punct |
| 21 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 22 spoke | cc |
| 22 | spoke | speak | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 16 wanted | conj |
| 23 | to | to | ADP | _ | 25 father | case |
| 24 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 25 father | nmod:poss |
| 25 | father | father | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 spoke | obl |
| 26 | on | on | ADP | _ | 28 subject | case |
| 27 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 28 subject | det |
| 28 | subject | subject | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 spoke | obl |
| 29 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 32 placed | punct |
| 30 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 32 placed | cc |
| 31 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 32 placed | nsubj |
| 32 | placed | place | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 16 wanted | conj |
| 33 | such | such | DET | PronType=Ind | 36 dowry | det:predet |
| 34 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 36 dowry | det |
| 35 | high | high | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 36 dowry | amod |
| 36 | dowry | dowry | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 placed | obj |
| 37 | on | on | ADP | _ | 39 daughter | case |
| 38 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 39 daughter | nmod:poss |
| 39 | daughter | daughter | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 dowry | nmod |
| 40 | that | that | PRON | PronType=Rel | 44 rich | nsubj |
| 41 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 42 one | det |
| 42 | one | one | NOUN | Number=Sing | 44 rich | nsubj |
| 43 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 44 rich | cop |
| 44 | rich | rich | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 36 dowry | acl:relcl |
| 45 | enough | enough | ADV | _ | 44 rich | advmod |
| 46 | to | to | PART | _ | 47 pay | mark |
| 47 | pay | pay | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 44 rich | advcl |
| 48 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 47 pay | obj |
| 49 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 admired | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | admire | past · passive | all men and animals | BUCK | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer subject=Stimulus | ||||
| 2 | want | past | many of animals | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | |||||
| 3 | marry not said to happen | to-infinitive | many of animals not said here | BUCK | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Patient | ||||
| 4 | speak speech: other | past | many of animals not said here | the subject | to BUCK's father | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to father=Co-Agent | |||
| 5 | place | past | man | such high dowry | on man's daughter | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent dowry=Theme on daughter=Destination | |||
| 6 | is | past | such high dowry | no one nsubj; enough, rich property | tree rules | ||||
| 7 | pay | to-infinitive | such high dowry not said here | dowry | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Asset |
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/pg70959/21/15/