Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 1, sentence 32
Chief Kekong replied, “If you love this young man, whom you have never before seen, and go away with him as his wife, you may be sold as a slave, as you are such a fine girl, or you might possibly be killed; and although I am Chief of Okuni, I have no power in Chief Kaku’s town, and should not be able to help you.
Who acts: Chief, you · What happens: reply, love, see, go away, sell, be · To what, where: young man, you, fine girl, power, town · Speech: someone speaks here
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, you), 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 replied | nsubj |
| 2 | Kekong | Kekong | PROPN | Number=Sing | 1 Chief | flat |
| 3 | replied | reply | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 32 sold | punct |
| 5 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 32 sold | punct |
| 6 | If | if | SCONJ | _ | 8 love | mark |
| 7 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 8 love | nsubj |
| 8 | love | love | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 32 sold | advcl |
| 9 | this | this | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 11 man | det |
| 10 | young | young | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 11 man | amod |
| 11 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 love | obj |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 18 seen | punct |
| 13 | whom | whom | PRON | PronType=Rel | 18 seen | obl |
| 14 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 18 seen | nsubj |
| 15 | have | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 18 seen | aux |
| 16 | never | never | ADV | PronType=Neg | 17 before | advmod |
| 17 | before | before | ADV | _ | 18 seen | advmod |
| 18 | seen | see | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 11 man | acl:relcl |
| 19 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 21 go | punct |
| 20 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 21 go | cc |
| 21 | go | go | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 8 love | conj |
| 22 | away | away | ADV | _ | 21 go | advmod |
| 23 | with | with | ADP | _ | 24 him | case |
| 24 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 21 go | obl |
| 25 | as | as | ADP | _ | 27 wife | case |
| 26 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 27 wife | nmod:poss |
| 27 | wife | wife | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 go | obl |
| 28 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 8 love | punct |
| 29 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 32 sold | nsubj:pass |
| 30 | may | may | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 32 sold | aux |
| 31 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 32 sold | aux:pass |
| 32 | sold | sell | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 3 replied | parataxis |
| 33 | as | as | ADP | _ | 35 slave | case |
| 34 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 35 slave | det |
| 35 | slave | slave | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 sold | obl |
| 36 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 43 girl | punct |
| 37 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 43 girl | mark |
| 38 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 43 girl | nsubj |
| 39 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 43 girl | cop |
| 40 | such | such | DET | PronType=Ind | 43 girl | det:predet |
| 41 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 43 girl | det |
| 42 | fine | fine | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 43 girl | amod |
| 43 | girl | girl | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 sold | parataxis |
| 44 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 50 killed | punct |
| 45 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 50 killed | cc |
| 46 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 50 killed | nsubj:pass |
| 47 | might | might | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 50 killed | aux |
| 48 | possibly | possibly | ADV | _ | 50 killed | advmod |
| 49 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 50 killed | aux:pass |
| 50 | killed | kill | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 32 sold | conj |
| 51 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 56 Chief | punct |
| 52 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 56 Chief | cc |
| 53 | although | although | SCONJ | _ | 56 Chief | case |
| 54 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 56 Chief | nsubj |
| 55 | am | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 56 Chief | cop |
| 56 | Chief | Chief | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 replied | obl |
| 57 | of | of | ADP | _ | 58 Okuni | case |
| 58 | Okuni | Okuni | PROPN | Number=Sing | 56 Chief | nmod |
| 59 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 61 have | punct |
| 60 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 61 have | nsubj |
| 61 | have | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 56 Chief | conj |
| 62 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 63 power | det |
| 63 | power | power | NOUN | Number=Sing | 61 have | obj |
| 64 | in | in | ADP | _ | 68 town | case |
| 65 | Chief | Chief | PROPN | Number=Sing | 68 town | nmod:poss |
| 66 | Kaku | Kaku | PROPN | Number=Sing | 65 Chief | flat |
| 67 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 65 Chief | case |
| 68 | town | town | NOUN | Number=Sing | 61 have | obl |
| 69 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 74 able | punct |
| 70 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 74 able | cc |
| 71 | should | should | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 74 able | aux |
| 72 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 74 able | advmod |
| 73 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 74 able | cop |
| 74 | able | able | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 replied | parataxis |
| 75 | to | to | PART | _ | 76 help | mark |
| 76 | help | help | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 74 able | xcomp |
| 77 | you | you | PRON | Case=Acc Person=2 PronType=Prs | 76 help | obj |
| 78 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 replied | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | reply speech: assert | past | Chief | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 2 | love a condition, not said to happen, in a quote | present | you | this young man | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer man=Stimulus | ||||
| 3 | see in a quote | present · perfect | you | this young man | never | before property | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | ||
| 4 | go away in a quote | infinitive | you not said here | with Chief; as Chief's wife; away property | vn help-72.1-2 «NP V PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent with he=Beneficiary | ||||
| 5 | sell in a quote | may · passive | you | as a slave | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | ||||
| 6 | is a in a quote | present | you | such fine girl | tree rules | ||||
| 7 | kill in a quote | might · passive | you | possibly property | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | ||||
| 8 | is in a quote | present | Chief | although Chief; of Okuni | tree rules | ||||
| 9 | have in a quote | present | Chief | no power | Chief's town | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent power=Patient | |||
| 10 | not is in a quote | should | able property | tree rules | |||||
| 11 | help in a quote | to-infinitive | you | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent you=Beneficiary |
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/pg70959/24/32/