Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 2, sentence 28
When the people heard that the chief had eaten the cat-fish and had not died, they thought they would like to try some for themselves, so they all had some of the fish which ’Ndere had cooked.
Who acts: people, chief · What happens: hear, eat, not die, think, like, try · To what, where: cat fish, some, fish · 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 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (people, chief), 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 | When | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 4 heard | advmod |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 people | det |
| 3 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 heard | nsubj |
| 4 | heard | hear | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 20 thought | advcl |
| 5 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 9 eaten | mark |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 chief | det |
| 7 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 eaten | nsubj |
| 8 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 eaten | aux |
| 9 | eaten | eat | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 4 heard | ccomp |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 13 fish | det |
| 11 | cat | cat | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 fish | compound |
| 12 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 11 cat | punct |
| 13 | fish | fish | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 eaten | obj |
| 14 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 17 died | cc |
| 15 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 17 died | aux |
| 16 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 17 died | advmod |
| 17 | died | die | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 9 eaten | conj |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 4 heard | punct |
| 19 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 20 thought | nsubj |
| 20 | thought | think | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 21 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 23 like | nsubj |
| 22 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 23 like | aux |
| 23 | like | like | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 20 thought | ccomp |
| 24 | to | to | PART | _ | 25 try | mark |
| 25 | try | try | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 23 like | xcomp |
| 26 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 25 try | obj |
| 27 | for | for | ADP | _ | 28 themselves | case |
| 28 | themselves | themselves | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes | 25 try | obl |
| 29 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 33 had | punct |
| 30 | so | so | ADV | _ | 33 had | advmod |
| 31 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 33 had | nsubj |
| 32 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 31 they | det |
| 33 | had | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 20 thought | conj |
| 34 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 33 had | obj |
| 35 | of | of | ADP | _ | 37 fish | case |
| 36 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 37 fish | det |
| 37 | fish | fish | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 some | nmod |
| 38 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 42 cooked | nsubj:pass |
| 39 | ’ | ' | PUNCT | _ | 42 cooked | punct |
| 40 | Ndere | Ndere | PROPN | Number=Sing | 42 cooked | nsubj:pass |
| 41 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 42 cooked | aux |
| 42 | cooked | cook | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 37 fish | acl:relcl |
| 43 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 20 thought | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | hear | past | the people | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | |||||
| 2 | eat | past · perfect | the chief | the cat fish | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fish=Patient | ||||
| 3 | not die | past · perfect | the chief not said here | vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | |||||
| 4 | think speech: other | past | people | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | |||||
| 5 | like | would | people | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | |||||
| 6 | try not said to happen | to-infinitive | people not said here | some | for people | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent some=Theme for themselves=Attribute | |||
| 7 | have | past | people | some of the fish | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent some=Patient | ||||
| 8 | cook | past · perfect · passive | the fish | Ndere nsubj:pass | vn cooking-45.3 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient |
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/pg70959/25/28/