Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 1, sentence 62
After the python and his wife had had their early morning food, they started off for Okuni, but when they arrived at the first water outside the town where the road branched off to the farm, the python, remembering that ’Ndere had refused to marry Chief Kaku, thought it very probable that the chief would cause him to be waylaid and his wife taken away from him.
Who acts: wife, men, road, Ndere, chief · What happens: have, start off, arrive, branch off, remember, refuse · To what, where: early morning food, first water, Chief, road, python · 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 (wife, men, road, 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 | After | after | ADP | _ | 3 python | case |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 python | det |
| 3 | python | python | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 started | obl |
| 4 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 8 had | cc |
| 5 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 6 wife | nmod:poss |
| 6 | wife | wife | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 had | nsubj |
| 7 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 had | aux |
| 8 | had | have | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 3 python | conj |
| 9 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 12 food | nmod:poss |
| 10 | early | early | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 12 food | amod |
| 11 | morning | morning | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 food | compound |
| 12 | food | food | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 had | obj |
| 13 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 3 python | punct |
| 14 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 15 started | nsubj |
| 15 | started | start | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 16 | off | off | ADP | _ | 15 started | compound:prt |
| 17 | for | for | ADP | _ | 18 Okuni | case |
| 18 | Okuni | Okuni | PROPN | Number=Sing | 15 started | obl |
| 19 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 23 arrived | punct |
| 20 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 23 arrived | cc |
| 21 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 23 arrived | advmod |
| 22 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 23 arrived | nsubj |
| 23 | arrived | arrive | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 15 started | parataxis |
| 24 | at | at | ADP | _ | 27 water | case |
| 25 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 27 water | det |
| 26 | first | first | ADJ | Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord | 27 water | amod |
| 27 | water | water | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 arrived | obl |
| 28 | outside | outside | ADP | _ | 30 town | case |
| 29 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 30 town | det |
| 30 | town | town | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 water | nmod |
| 31 | where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 34 branched | advmod |
| 32 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 33 road | det |
| 33 | road | road | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 branched | nsubj |
| 34 | branched | branch | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 30 town | acl:relcl |
| 35 | off | off | ADP | _ | 34 branched | compound:prt |
| 36 | to | to | ADP | _ | 38 farm | case |
| 37 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 38 farm | det |
| 38 | farm | farm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 branched | obl |
| 39 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 41 python | punct |
| 40 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 41 python | det |
| 41 | python | python | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 farm | conj |
| 42 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 43 remembering | punct |
| 43 | remembering | remember | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 23 arrived | advcl |
| 44 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 48 refused | mark |
| 45 | ’ | ' | PUNCT | _ | 48 refused | punct |
| 46 | Ndere | Ndere | PROPN | Number=Sing | 48 refused | nsubj |
| 47 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 48 refused | aux |
| 48 | refused | refuse | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 43 remembering | ccomp |
| 49 | to | to | PART | _ | 50 marry | mark |
| 50 | marry | marry | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 48 refused | xcomp |
| 51 | Chief | Chief | PROPN | Number=Sing | 50 marry | obj |
| 52 | Kaku | Kaku | PROPN | Number=Sing | 51 Chief | flat |
| 53 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 54 thought | punct |
| 54 | thought | think | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 23 arrived | conj |
| 55 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 54 thought | obj |
| 56 | very | very | ADV | _ | 57 probable | advmod |
| 57 | probable | probable | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 54 thought | xcomp |
| 58 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 62 cause | mark |
| 59 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 60 chief | det |
| 60 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 62 cause | nsubj |
| 61 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 62 cause | aux |
| 62 | cause | cause | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 57 probable | advcl |
| 63 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 62 cause | obj |
| 64 | to | to | PART | _ | 66 waylaid | mark |
| 65 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 66 waylaid | aux:pass |
| 66 | waylaid | waylay | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 62 cause | advcl |
| 67 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 70 taken | cc |
| 68 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 69 wife | nmod:poss |
| 69 | wife | wife | NOUN | Number=Sing | 70 taken | nsubj |
| 70 | taken | take | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 66 waylaid | conj |
| 71 | away | away | ADV | _ | 70 taken | advmod |
| 72 | from | from | ADP | _ | 73 him | case |
| 73 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 70 taken | obl |
| 74 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 15 started | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | have | past · perfect | python's wife | men's early morning food | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent food=Patient | ||||
| 2 | start off | past | men = man | after the python | for Okuni | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | |||
| 3 | arrive | past | men = man | the first water outside the town | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 4 | branch off | past | the road | to the farm and the python | vn differ-23.4 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 5 | remember | gerund | men = man not said here | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | |||||
| 6 | refuse | past · perfect | Ndere | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | |||||
| 7 | not marry | to-infinitive | Ndere not said here | Chief | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent chief=Patient | ||||
| 8 | think speech: other | past | men = man not said here | road | probable property | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot it=Theme | |||
| 9 | cause | would | the chief | python | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition he=Patient | ||||
| 10 | waylay | to-infinitive · passive | the chief not said here | tree rules | |||||
| 11 | take away | participle | Chief's wife | from Chief; away property | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent from he=Initial_Location |
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/pg70959/24/62/