Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 1, sentence 6
He was a very fine fellow, and wanted to marry ’Ndere so that he might inherit her father’s property, but having no hands and feet he knew he would stand no chance of winning a girl who had refused so many offers.
Who acts: python, chance, girl · What happens: be, want, marry, inherit, have, know · To what, where: fine fellow, Ndere, property, no, chance, girl · 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, chance, girl), 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 | He | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 6 fellow | nsubj |
| 2 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 fellow | cop |
| 3 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 6 fellow | det |
| 4 | very | very | ADV | _ | 5 fine | advmod |
| 5 | fine | fine | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 fellow | amod |
| 6 | fellow | fellow | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 9 wanted | punct |
| 8 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 9 wanted | cc |
| 9 | wanted | want | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 fellow | parataxis |
| 10 | to | to | PART | _ | 11 marry | mark |
| 11 | marry | marry | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 9 wanted | xcomp |
| 12 | ’ | ' | PUNCT | _ | 13 Ndere | punct |
| 13 | Ndere | Ndere | PROPN | Number=Sing | 11 marry | obj |
| 14 | so | so | SCONJ | ExtPos=SCONJ | 18 inherit | mark |
| 15 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 14 so | fixed |
| 16 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 18 inherit | nsubj |
| 17 | might | might | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 18 inherit | aux |
| 18 | inherit | inherit | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 11 marry | advcl |
| 19 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 20 father | nmod:poss |
| 20 | father | father | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 property | nmod:poss |
| 21 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 20 father | case |
| 22 | property | property | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 inherit | obj |
| 23 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 31 knew | punct |
| 24 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 31 knew | cc |
| 25 | having | have | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 31 knew | csubj |
| 26 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 25 having | obj |
| 27 | hands | hand | NOUN | Number=Plur | 25 having | obj |
| 28 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 29 feet | cc |
| 29 | feet | foot | NOUN | Number=Plur | 27 hands | conj |
| 30 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 31 knew | nsubj |
| 31 | knew | know | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 wanted | conj |
| 32 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 34 stand | nsubj |
| 33 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 34 stand | aux |
| 34 | stand | stand | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 31 knew | ccomp |
| 35 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 36 chance | det |
| 36 | chance | chance | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 stand | obj |
| 37 | of | of | SCONJ | _ | 38 winning | mark |
| 38 | winning | win | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 36 chance | acl |
| 39 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 40 girl | det |
| 40 | girl | girl | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 winning | obj |
| 41 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 43 refused | nsubj |
| 42 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 43 refused | aux |
| 43 | refused | refuse | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 40 girl | acl:relcl |
| 44 | so | so | ADV | _ | 45 many | advmod |
| 45 | many | many | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 46 offers | amod |
| 46 | offers | offer | NOUN | Number=Plur | 43 refused | obj |
| 47 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 6 fellow | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | past | python | a fine fellow | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | want | past | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | ||||||
| 3 | marry not said to happen | to-infinitive | Ndere | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ndere=Patient | |||||
| 4 | inherit | might | python | Ndere's father's property | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent property=Theme | ||||
| 5 | have | gerund | no | hands and feet obj | tree rules | ||||
| 6 | know | past | python | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | |||||
| 7 | stand | would | python | no chance | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer chance=Stimulus | ||||
| 8 | win | gerund | no chance not said here | a girl | vn succeed-74-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent girl=Eventuality | ||||
| 9 | refuse | past · perfect | a girl | many offers | vn reject-77.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent offer=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/pg70959/24/6/