Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 1, sentence 72
The young men went to Okuni as they were ordered, and, after watching for some time, at last met ’Ndere alone at the spring, where she was getting water, and gave her the messages from the chief. ’
Who acts: young men, Ndere · What happens: go, order, watch, meet, get, give · To what, where: Okuni, men, Ndere, water, messages, chief
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 (young men, 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 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 men | det |
| 2 | young | young | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 men | amod |
| 3 | men | man | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 went | nsubj |
| 4 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | to | to | ADP | _ | 6 Okuni | case |
| 6 | Okuni | Okuni | PROPN | Number=Sing | 4 went | obl |
| 7 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 10 ordered | mark |
| 8 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 10 ordered | nsubj |
| 9 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 10 ordered | aux:pass |
| 10 | ordered | order | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 4 went | advcl |
| 11 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 watching | punct |
| 12 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 15 watching | cc |
| 13 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 12 and | punct |
| 14 | after | after | SCONJ | _ | 15 watching | mark |
| 15 | watching | watch | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 4 went | advcl |
| 16 | for | for | ADP | _ | 18 time | case |
| 17 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 18 time | det |
| 18 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 watching | obl |
| 19 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 22 met | punct |
| 20 | at | at | SCONJ | _ | 22 met | mark |
| 21 | last | last | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 22 met | amod |
| 22 | met | meet | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 4 went | conj |
| 23 | ’ | ' | PUNCT | _ | 24 Ndere | punct |
| 24 | Ndere | Ndere | PROPN | Number=Sing | 22 met | obl |
| 25 | alone | alone | ADV | _ | 22 met | advmod |
| 26 | at | at | ADP | _ | 28 spring | case |
| 27 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 28 spring | det |
| 28 | spring | spring | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 met | obl |
| 29 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 33 getting | punct |
| 30 | where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 33 getting | advmod |
| 31 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 33 getting | nsubj |
| 32 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 33 getting | aux |
| 33 | getting | get | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 28 spring | conj |
| 34 | water | water | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 getting | obj |
| 35 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 37 gave | punct |
| 36 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 37 gave | cc |
| 37 | gave | give | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 went | conj |
| 38 | her | she | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 37 gave | iobj |
| 39 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 40 messages | det |
| 40 | messages | message | NOUN | Number=Plur | 37 gave | obj |
| 41 | from | from | ADP | _ | 43 chief | case |
| 42 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 43 chief | det |
| 43 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 gave | obl |
| 44 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 went | punct |
| 45 | ’ | ' | PUNCT | _ | 4 went | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | go | past | the young men | Okuni | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to okuni=Initial_Location | ||||
| 2 | order | past · passive | men = man | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | |||||
| 3 | watch | gerund | the young men not said here | time | vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 4 | meet | participle | the young men not said here | Ndere | spring | alone property | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||
| 5 | get | past · progressive | Ndere | water | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer water=Stimulus | ||||
| 6 | give | past | the young men not said here | the messages | Ndere | the chief | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent she=Recipient message=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/pg70959/24/72/