Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 1, sentence 76
The python would not allow her to go so far as the farm, as he told her she was such a fine girl that if the other pythons saw her they would certainly be so envious of him that they might kill him in order to get her for themselves.
Who acts: python, Ndere, other pythons, farm · What happens: not allow, go, tell, be, see, kill · To what, where: Ndere, fine girl, 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 (python, Ndere, other pythons, farm), 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 | 2 python | det |
| 2 | python | python | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 allow | nsubj |
| 3 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 5 allow | aux |
| 4 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 5 allow | advmod |
| 5 | allow | allow | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 6 | her | she | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 allow | iobj |
| 7 | to | to | PART | _ | 8 go | mark |
| 8 | go | go | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 5 allow | xcomp |
| 9 | so | so | ADV | _ | 10 far | advmod |
| 10 | far | far | ADV | Degree=Pos | 8 go | advmod |
| 11 | as | as | ADP | _ | 13 farm | case |
| 12 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 13 farm | det |
| 13 | farm | farm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 far | obl |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 17 told | punct |
| 15 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 17 told | mark |
| 16 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 17 told | nsubj |
| 17 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 allow | parataxis |
| 18 | her | she | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 17 told | iobj |
| 19 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 24 girl | nsubj |
| 20 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 24 girl | cop |
| 21 | such | such | DET | PronType=Ind | 24 girl | det:predet |
| 22 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 24 girl | det |
| 23 | fine | fine | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 24 girl | amod |
| 24 | girl | girl | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 told | ccomp |
| 25 | that | that | PRON | PronType=Rel | 30 saw | obj |
| 26 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 30 saw | mark |
| 27 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 29 pythons | det |
| 28 | other | other | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 29 pythons | amod |
| 29 | pythons | python | NOUN | Number=Plur | 30 saw | nsubj |
| 30 | saw | see | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 24 girl | acl:relcl |
| 31 | her | she | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 30 saw | obj |
| 32 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 37 envious | nsubj |
| 33 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 37 envious | aux |
| 34 | certainly | certainly | ADV | _ | 37 envious | advmod |
| 35 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 37 envious | cop |
| 36 | so | so | ADV | _ | 37 envious | advmod |
| 37 | envious | envious | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 30 saw | ccomp |
| 38 | of | of | ADP | _ | 39 him | case |
| 39 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 37 envious | obl |
| 40 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 43 kill | mark |
| 41 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 43 kill | nsubj |
| 42 | might | might | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 43 kill | aux |
| 43 | kill | kill | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 37 envious | advcl |
| 44 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 43 kill | obj |
| 45 | in | in | SCONJ | ExtPos=SCONJ | 48 get | mark |
| 46 | order | order | NOUN | Number=Sing | 45 in | fixed |
| 47 | to | to | PART | _ | 48 get | mark |
| 48 | get | get | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 43 kill | advcl |
| 49 | her | she | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 48 get | obj |
| 50 | for | for | ADP | _ | 51 themselves | case |
| 51 | themselves | themselves | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes | 48 get | obl |
| 52 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 allow | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not allow | would | the python | Ndere | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP S»: agent=Causer she=Beneficiary clause=Eventuality | ||||
| 2 | go not said to happen | to-infinitive | the python not said here | far property | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 3 | tell speech: assert | past | python | Ndere | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent she=Recipient | ||||
| 4 | is a | past | Ndere | such fine girl | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | see a condition, not said to happen | past | the other pythons | such fine girl | Ndere obj | tree rules | |||
| 6 | is | would | farm | of python; certainly, envious property | tree rules | ||||
| 7 | kill | might | farm | python | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme | ||||
| 8 | get | to-infinitive | farm not said here | Ndere | for farm | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent she=Theme for themselves=Source |
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/pg70959/24/76/