Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 1, sentence 14
Now the python was not aware that Chief Kaku had already asked ’Ndere to marry him, and that she had refused to do so, as if the python had known this he would have gone to somebody else.
Who acts: python, Chief, Ndere, this · What happens: not be, ask, marry, refuse, not do, know · To what, where: Ndere, python, somebody
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (python, Chief, Ndere, this), 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 | Now | now | ADV | PronType=Dem | 6 aware | advmod |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 python | det |
| 3 | python | python | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 aware | nsubj |
| 4 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 aware | cop |
| 5 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 6 aware | advmod |
| 6 | aware | aware | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 7 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 12 asked | mark |
| 8 | Chief | Chief | PROPN | Number=Sing | 12 asked | nsubj |
| 9 | Kaku | Kaku | PROPN | Number=Sing | 8 Chief | flat |
| 10 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 12 asked | aux |
| 11 | already | already | ADV | _ | 12 asked | advmod |
| 12 | asked | ask | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 6 aware | ccomp |
| 13 | ’ | ' | PUNCT | _ | 14 Ndere | punct |
| 14 | Ndere | Ndere | PROPN | Number=Sing | 12 asked | obl |
| 15 | to | to | PART | _ | 16 marry | mark |
| 16 | marry | marry | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 12 asked | xcomp |
| 17 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 16 marry | obj |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 23 refused | punct |
| 19 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 23 refused | cc |
| 20 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 23 refused | mark |
| 21 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 23 refused | nsubj |
| 22 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 23 refused | aux |
| 23 | refused | refuse | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 6 aware | parataxis |
| 24 | to | to | PART | _ | 25 do | mark |
| 25 | do | do | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 23 refused | xcomp |
| 26 | so | so | ADV | _ | 25 do | advmod |
| 27 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 33 known | punct |
| 28 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 33 known | mark |
| 29 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 33 known | mark |
| 30 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 31 python | det |
| 31 | python | python | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 known | nsubj:pass |
| 32 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 33 known | aux |
| 33 | known | know | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 23 refused | conj |
| 34 | this | this | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 38 gone | nsubj |
| 35 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 38 gone | nsubj |
| 36 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 38 gone | aux |
| 37 | have | have | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 38 gone | aux |
| 38 | gone | go | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 33 known | parataxis |
| 39 | to | to | ADP | _ | 40 somebody | case |
| 40 | somebody | somebody | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Ind | 38 gone | obl |
| 41 | else | else | ADV | _ | 40 somebody | advmod |
| 42 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 6 aware | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not is | past | the python | now | aware property | tree rules | |||
| 2 | ask speech: ask | past · perfect | Chief | Ndere | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | ||||
| 3 | marry not said to happen | to-infinitive | Ndere not said here | python | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient | ||||
| 4 | refuse | past · perfect | Ndere | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | |||||
| 5 | not do | to-infinitive | Ndere not said here | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 6 | know a condition, not said to happen | past · perfect · passive | the python | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Stimulus | |||||
| 7 | go | would · perfect | this | somebody | python nsubj | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to somebody=Initial_Location |
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/pg70959/24/14/