Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 2, sentence 38
While the hunting was going on, a man called Agbor Adam went to his wife, Iza Kakem, and asked her to give him some fish to eat, as he was tired of nothing but meat.
Who acts: hunting, man · What happens: go on, call, go, ask, give, eat · To what, where: man, fish, hunting · 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 (hunting, man), 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 | While | while | SCONJ | _ | 5 going | mark |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 hunting | det |
| 3 | hunting | hunting | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 going | nsubj |
| 4 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 going | aux |
| 5 | going | go | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 13 went | advcl |
| 6 | on | on | ADP | _ | 5 going | compound:prt |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 5 going | punct |
| 8 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 9 man | det |
| 9 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 went | nsubj |
| 10 | called | call | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 9 man | acl |
| 11 | Agbor | Agbor | PROPN | Number=Sing | 10 called | xcomp |
| 12 | Adam | Adam | PROPN | Number=Sing | 11 Agbor | flat |
| 13 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 14 | to | to | ADP | _ | 16 wife | case |
| 15 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 16 wife | nmod:poss |
| 16 | wife | wife | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 went | obl |
| 17 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 18 Iza | punct |
| 18 | Iza | Iza | PROPN | Number=Sing | 16 wife | appos |
| 19 | Kakem | Kakem | PROPN | Number=Sing | 18 Iza | flat |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 22 asked | punct |
| 21 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 22 asked | cc |
| 22 | asked | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 13 went | conj |
| 23 | her | she | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 22 asked | iobj |
| 24 | to | to | PART | _ | 25 give | mark |
| 25 | give | give | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 22 asked | xcomp |
| 26 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 25 give | iobj |
| 27 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 28 fish | det |
| 28 | fish | fish | NOUN | Number=Plur | 25 give | obj |
| 29 | to | to | PART | _ | 30 eat | mark |
| 30 | eat | eat | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 28 fish | acl |
| 31 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 35 tired | punct |
| 32 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 35 tired | mark |
| 33 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 35 tired | nsubj |
| 34 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 35 tired | cop |
| 35 | tired | tired | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 22 asked | parataxis |
| 36 | of | of | ADP | _ | 37 nothing | case |
| 37 | nothing | nothing | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Neg | 35 tired | obl |
| 38 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 39 meat | cc |
| 39 | meat | meat | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 nothing | conj |
| 40 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 13 went | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | go on | past · progressive | the hunting | vn function-105.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 2 | call | participle | a man not said here | Agbor xcomp | vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 3 | go | past | a man | to hunting's wife | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to wife=Initial_Location | ||||
| 4 | ask speech: ask | past | a man not said here | fish | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S_INF»: agent=Agent she=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 5 | give not said to happen | to-infinitive | a man not said here | some fish | hunting | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient fish=Theme | |||
| 6 | eat | to-infinitive | a man not said here | some fish not said here | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 7 | is | past | hunting | of nothing meat; tired property | tree rules |
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/pg70959/25/38/