Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 1, sentence 19
When he arrived at Okuni he looked nicer than any of the other Okuni young men; his long neck and small eyes, white teeth and the fine colour of his body appealed to ’Ndere when she saw him, and she at once took a great fancy to him.
Who acts: Chief, long neck, Ndere · What happens: arrive, look, appeal, ', see, take · To what, where: Okuni, Ndere, Chief, great fancy
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, long neck, 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 | When | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 3 arrived | advmod |
| 2 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 arrived | nsubj |
| 3 | arrived | arrive | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 looked | advcl |
| 4 | at | at | ADP | _ | 5 Okuni | case |
| 5 | Okuni | Okuni | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 arrived | obl |
| 6 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 7 looked | nsubj |
| 7 | looked | look | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 8 | nicer | nice | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 7 looked | xcomp |
| 9 | than | than | ADP | _ | 10 any | case |
| 10 | any | any | DET | PronType=Ind | 8 nicer | obl |
| 11 | of | of | ADP | _ | 16 men | case |
| 12 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 16 men | det |
| 13 | other | other | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 16 men | amod |
| 14 | Okuni | Okuni | PROPN | Number=Sing | 16 men | compound |
| 15 | young | young | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 16 men | amod |
| 16 | men | man | NOUN | Number=Plur | 10 any | nmod |
| 17 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 34 appealed | punct |
| 18 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 20 neck | nmod:poss |
| 19 | long | long | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 20 neck | amod |
| 20 | neck | neck | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 appealed | nsubj |
| 21 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 23 eyes | cc |
| 22 | small | small | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 23 eyes | amod |
| 23 | eyes | eye | NOUN | Number=Plur | 20 neck | conj |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 26 teeth | punct |
| 25 | white | white | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 26 teeth | amod |
| 26 | teeth | tooth | NOUN | Number=Plur | 20 neck | conj |
| 27 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 30 colour | cc |
| 28 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 30 colour | det |
| 29 | fine | fine | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 30 colour | amod |
| 30 | colour | colour | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 neck | conj |
| 31 | of | of | ADP | _ | 33 body | case |
| 32 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 33 body | nmod:poss |
| 33 | body | body | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 colour | nmod |
| 34 | appealed | appeal | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 looked | conj |
| 35 | to | to | ADP | _ | 36 ’ | case |
| 36 | ’ | ' | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 34 appealed | xcomp |
| 37 | Ndere | Ndere | PROPN | Number=Sing | 36 ’ | obj |
| 38 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 40 saw | advmod |
| 39 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 40 saw | nsubj |
| 40 | saw | see | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 36 ’ | advcl |
| 41 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 40 saw | obj |
| 42 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 47 took | punct |
| 43 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 47 took | cc |
| 44 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 47 took | nsubj |
| 45 | at | at | ADP | _ | 46 once | case |
| 46 | once | once | ADV | NumForm=Word NumType=Mult | 47 took | obl |
| 47 | took | take | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 34 appealed | conj |
| 48 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 50 fancy | det |
| 49 | great | great | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 50 fancy | amod |
| 50 | fancy | fancy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 47 took | obj |
| 51 | to | to | ADP | _ | 52 him | case |
| 52 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 47 took | obl |
| 53 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 7 looked | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | arrive | past | Chief | Okuni | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 2 | look | past | Chief | nice property | vn stimulus_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus | ||||
| 3 | appeal | past | Chief's long neck and small eyes and white teeth and the fine colour of Chief's body | tree rules | |||||
| 4 | ' | infinitive | Chief's long neck and small eyes and white teeth and the fine colour of Chief's body not said here | Ndere | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | see | past | Ndere | Chief | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus | ||||
| 6 | take | past | Ndere | a great fancy | Chief | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent fancy=Theme to he=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/pg70959/24/19/