Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxv.--how Two Bendega Young Men Changed Their Skins., part 4, sentence 25
But before he did so the frog called all his company, who were very numerous, together, and told them that he intended to try and win the bush buck’s daughter, and that he would race her father.
Who acts: man, frog, company · What happens: do, call, be, tell, intend, try · To what, where: frog, company, animals, daughter, father · 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 (man, frog, company), 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 | _ | 21 told | cc |
| 2 | before | before | SCONJ | _ | 4 did | mark |
| 3 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 did | nsubj |
| 4 | did | do | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 21 told | advcl |
| 5 | so | so | ADV | _ | 4 did | advmod |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 frog | det |
| 7 | frog | frog | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 did | obj |
| 8 | called | call | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 7 frog | acl |
| 9 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 11 company | det:predet |
| 10 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 11 company | nmod:poss |
| 11 | company | company | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 called | xcomp |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 16 numerous | punct |
| 13 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 16 numerous | nsubj |
| 14 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 16 numerous | cop |
| 15 | very | very | ADV | _ | 16 numerous | advmod |
| 16 | numerous | numerous | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 11 company | parataxis |
| 17 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 18 together | punct |
| 18 | together | together | ADV | _ | 16 numerous | advmod |
| 19 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 21 told | punct |
| 20 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 21 told | cc |
| 21 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 22 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 21 told | iobj |
| 23 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 25 intended | mark |
| 24 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 25 intended | nsubj |
| 25 | intended | intend | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 21 told | ccomp |
| 26 | to | to | PART | _ | 27 try | mark |
| 27 | try | try | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 25 intended | xcomp |
| 28 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 29 win | cc |
| 29 | win | win | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 27 try | conj |
| 30 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 32 buck | det |
| 31 | bush | bush | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 buck | compound |
| 32 | buck | buck | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 daughter | nmod:poss |
| 33 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 32 buck | case |
| 34 | daughter | daughter | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 win | obj |
| 35 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 40 race | punct |
| 36 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 40 race | cc |
| 37 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 40 race | mark |
| 38 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 40 race | nsubj |
| 39 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 40 race | aux |
| 40 | race | race | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 21 told | conj |
| 41 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 42 father | nmod:poss |
| 42 | father | father | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 race | obj |
| 43 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 21 told | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | do | past | man | the frog | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent frog=Eventuality | ||||
| 2 | call | participle | the frog not said here | man's company | vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 3 | is | past | man's company | numerous, together property | tree rules | ||||
| 4 | tell speech: assert | past | animals = animal | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic | |||||
| 5 | intend | past | man | vn intend-61.2-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 6 | try not said to happen | to-infinitive | man not said here | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer | |||||
| 7 | win | infinitive | man not said here | the bush buck's daughter | vn succeed-74-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent daughter=Eventuality | ||||
| 8 | race | would | man | DAUGHTER's father | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent father=Agent |
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/pg70959/21/25/