Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 1, sentence 37
Her parents tried their best to persuade ’Ndere to change her mind, but she was obstinate, and continued to threaten to hang herself if they refused to do what she wanted; they therefore left her until the next morning.
Who acts: parents, Ndere · What happens: try, persuade, change, be, continue, threaten · To what, where: best, Ndere, mind
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 (parents, 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 | Her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 2 parents | nmod:poss |
| 2 | parents | parent | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 tried | nsubj |
| 3 | tried | try | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 5 best | nmod:poss |
| 5 | best | good | ADJ | Degree=Sup | 3 tried | obj |
| 6 | to | to | PART | _ | 7 persuade | mark |
| 7 | persuade | persuade | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 3 tried | xcomp |
| 8 | ’ | ' | PUNCT | _ | 9 Ndere | punct |
| 9 | Ndere | Ndere | PROPN | Number=Sing | 7 persuade | obj |
| 10 | to | to | PART | _ | 11 change | mark |
| 11 | change | change | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 7 persuade | advcl |
| 12 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 13 mind | nmod:poss |
| 13 | mind | mind | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 change | obj |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 18 obstinate | punct |
| 15 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 18 obstinate | cc |
| 16 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 18 obstinate | nsubj |
| 17 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 18 obstinate | cop |
| 18 | obstinate | obstinate | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 tried | parataxis |
| 19 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 21 continued | punct |
| 20 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 21 continued | cc |
| 21 | continued | continue | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 18 obstinate | parataxis |
| 22 | to | to | PART | _ | 23 threaten | mark |
| 23 | threaten | threaten | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 21 continued | xcomp |
| 24 | to | to | PART | _ | 25 hang | mark |
| 25 | hang | hang | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 23 threaten | xcomp |
| 26 | herself | herself | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes | 25 hang | obj |
| 27 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 29 refused | mark |
| 28 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 29 refused | nsubj |
| 29 | refused | refuse | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 25 hang | advcl |
| 30 | to | to | PART | _ | 31 do | mark |
| 31 | do | do | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 29 refused | xcomp |
| 32 | what | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 31 do | obj |
| 33 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 34 wanted | nsubj |
| 34 | wanted | want | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 32 what | acl:relcl |
| 35 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 38 left | punct |
| 36 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 38 left | nsubj |
| 37 | therefore | therefore | ADV | _ | 38 left | advmod |
| 38 | left | leave | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 tried | conj |
| 39 | her | she | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 38 left | obj |
| 40 | until | until | ADP | _ | 43 morning | case |
| 41 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 43 morning | det |
| 42 | next | next | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 43 morning | amod |
| 43 | morning | morning | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 left | obl |
| 44 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 tried | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | try | past | wife's parents | parents's best | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | persuade not said to happen | to-infinitive | wife's parents not said here | Ndere | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ndere=Patient | ||||
| 3 | change | to-infinitive | wife's parents not said here | Ndere's mind | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mind=Patient | ||||
| 4 | is | past | Ndere | obstinate property | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | continue | past | vn continue-55.3 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | ||||||
| 6 | threaten | to-infinitive | tree rules | ||||||
| 7 | hang not said to happen | to-infinitive | Ndere | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent herself=Patient | |||||
| 8 | refuse a condition, not said to happen | past | parents = parent | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | |||||
| 9 | not do | to-infinitive | parents = parent not said here | what obj | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality | ||||
| 10 | want | past | Ndere | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot | |||||
| 11 | leave | past | parents = parent | Ndere | morning | therefore property | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Theme | ||
| 12 | mind | Ndere | nom mind «cognition transitive»: poss=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/pg70959/24/37/