Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 1, sentence 16
Chief Kaku thought the matter over, and as he was very anxious to obtain ’Ndere as a wife for himself, he decided to do as the python asked, having determined that when the python returned the borrowed limbs he would have him killed and take ’Ndere as his wife, whether she liked it or not.
Who acts: Chief, python, Ndere · What happens: think, be, obtain, decide, do, ask · To what, where: Ndere, borrowed limbs, Chief, matter
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 (Chief, python, Ndere), 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 | Chief | Chief | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 thought | nsubj |
| 2 | Kaku | Kaku | PROPN | Number=Sing | 1 Chief | flat |
| 3 | thought | think | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 matter | det |
| 5 | matter | matter | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 over | obl:unmarked |
| 6 | over | over | ADV | _ | 3 thought | ccomp |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 obtain | punct |
| 8 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 15 obtain | cc |
| 9 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 13 anxious | mark |
| 10 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 13 anxious | nsubj |
| 11 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 13 anxious | cop |
| 12 | very | very | ADV | _ | 13 anxious | advmod |
| 13 | anxious | anxious | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 15 obtain | advcl |
| 14 | to | to | PART | _ | 15 obtain | mark |
| 15 | obtain | obtain | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 3 thought | conj |
| 16 | ’ | ' | PUNCT | _ | 17 Ndere | punct |
| 17 | Ndere | Ndere | PROPN | Number=Sing | 15 obtain | obj |
| 18 | as | as | ADP | _ | 20 wife | case |
| 19 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 20 wife | det |
| 20 | wife | wife | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 obtain | obl |
| 21 | for | for | ADP | _ | 22 himself | case |
| 22 | himself | himself | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes | 20 wife | nmod |
| 23 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 25 decided | punct |
| 24 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 25 decided | nsubj |
| 25 | decided | decide | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 thought | parataxis |
| 26 | to | to | PART | _ | 27 do | mark |
| 27 | do | do | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 25 decided | xcomp |
| 28 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 31 asked | mark |
| 29 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 30 python | det |
| 30 | python | python | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 asked | nsubj |
| 31 | asked | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 27 do | advcl |
| 32 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 34 determined | punct |
| 33 | having | have | AUX | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 34 determined | aux |
| 34 | determined | determine | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 25 decided | conj |
| 35 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 45 have | mark |
| 36 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 39 returned | advmod |
| 37 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 38 python | det |
| 38 | python | python | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 returned | nsubj |
| 39 | returned | return | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 45 have | advcl |
| 40 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 42 limbs | det |
| 41 | borrowed | borrow | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 42 limbs | amod |
| 42 | limbs | limb | NOUN | Number=Plur | 39 returned | obj |
| 43 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 45 have | nsubj |
| 44 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 45 have | aux |
| 45 | have | have | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 34 determined | ccomp |
| 46 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 45 have | obj |
| 47 | killed | kill | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 45 have | xcomp |
| 48 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 49 take | cc |
| 49 | take | take | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 45 have | conj |
| 50 | ’ | ' | PUNCT | _ | 51 Ndere | punct |
| 51 | Ndere | Ndere | PROPN | Number=Sing | 49 take | obj |
| 52 | as | as | ADP | _ | 54 wife | case |
| 53 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 54 wife | nmod:poss |
| 54 | wife | wife | NOUN | Number=Sing | 49 take | obl |
| 55 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 58 liked | punct |
| 56 | whether | whether | SCONJ | _ | 58 liked | mark |
| 57 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 58 liked | nsubj |
| 58 | liked | like | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 49 take | advcl |
| 59 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 58 liked | obj |
| 60 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 61 not | cc |
| 61 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 58 liked | conj |
| 62 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 thought | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | think speech: other | past | Chief | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 2 | is | past | Chief | anxious property | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | obtain | to-infinitive | Chief not said here | Ndere | as a wife for Chief | vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset ndere=Theme | |||
| 4 | decide | past | Chief | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 5 | do not said to happen | to-infinitive | Chief not said here | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 6 | ask speech: ask | past | the python | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 7 | determine | gerund · perfect | Chief not said here | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | |||||
| 8 | return | past | the python | the borrowed limbs | vn send-11.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent limb=Theme | ||||
| 9 | borrow | participle | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | ||||||
| 10 | have | would | python | Chief | tree rules | ||||
| 11 | kill | participle | Chief not said here | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer | |||||
| 12 | take | infinitive | python not said here | Ndere | as python's wife | vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent ndere=Theme as wife=Attribute | |||
| 13 | like | past | Ndere | matter | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot it=Theme |
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/pg70959/24/16/