Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 1, sentence 49

But the python begged to be allowed until midnight before he returned the things he had borrowed, saying, “My wife and I have only just arrived, and it would be a shameful thing if I have to join her crawling on my belly.”

Who acts: python, play · What happens: beg, allow, return, borrow, say, have · To what, where: things, shameful thing, wife, belly · 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 (python, play), 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	But	but	CCONJ	_	4 begged	cc
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 python	det
3	python	python	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 begged	nsubj
4	begged	beg	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	7 allowed	mark
6	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	7 allowed	aux:pass
7	allowed	allow	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 begged	ccomp
8	until	until	ADP	_	9 midnight	case
9	midnight	midnight	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 allowed	obl
10	before	before	SCONJ	_	12 returned	mark
11	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 returned	nsubj
12	returned	return	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 allowed	advcl
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 things	det
14	things	thing	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 returned	obj
15	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	17 borrowed	nsubj
16	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	17 borrowed	aux
17	borrowed	borrow	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	14 things	acl:relcl
18	,	,	PUNCT	_	19 saying	punct
19	saying	say	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 begged	advcl
20	,	,	PUNCT	_	23 wife	punct
21	“	"	PUNCT	_	23 wife	punct
22	My	my	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	23 wife	nmod:poss
23	wife	wife	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 saying	ccomp
24	and	and	CCONJ	_	26 have	cc
25	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	26 have	nsubj
26	have	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 begged	conj
27	only	only	ADV	_	29 arrived	advmod
28	just	just	ADV	_	29 arrived	advmod
29	arrived	arrive	VERB	Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	26 have	ccomp
30	,	,	PUNCT	_	37 thing	punct
31	and	and	CCONJ	_	37 thing	cc
32	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	37 thing	nsubj
33	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	37 thing	aux
34	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	37 thing	cop
35	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	37 thing	det
36	shameful	shameful	ADJ	Degree=Pos	37 thing	amod
37	thing	thing	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 begged	parataxis
38	if	if	SCONJ	_	40 have	mark
39	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	40 have	nsubj
40	have	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	37 thing	advcl
41	to	to	PART	_	42 join	mark
42	join	join	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	40 have	xcomp
43	her	she	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	42 join	obj
44	crawling	crawl	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	42 join	advcl
45	on	on	ADP	_	47 belly	case
46	my	my	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	47 belly	nmod:poss
47	belly	belly	NOUN	Number=Sing	44 crawling	obl
48	.	.	PUNCT	_	37 thing	punct
49	”	"	PUNCT	_	37 thing	punct

Pragmatics

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	beg speech: request	past	the python					vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	allow not said to happen	to-infinitive · passive				midnight		vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V S_ING»
3	return	past	python	the things				vn send-11.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Theme
4	borrow	past · perfect	python	the things not said here				vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Theme
5	say speech: assert	gerund	the python not said here				My wife ccomp	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
6	have in a quote	present	the python = python					tree rules
7	arrive in a quote	past	the python = python not said here					vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
8	is a in a quote	would	play	a shameful thing				tree rules
9	have a condition, not said to happen, in a quote	present	the python = python					tree rules
10	join in a quote	to-infinitive	the python = python not said here	wife				vn mix-22.1-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Patient
11	crawl in a quote	gerund	the python = python not said here		my belly			vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on belly=Trajectory

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/pg70959/24/49/

🌲 Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 1, sentence 49

The tree

Pragmatics

Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 1, sentence 49