Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 2, sentence 4
The four men then attacked the python with sticks, and soon killed him; they then cut off his head and his tail, and carried them back to Chief Kaku, leaving the food on the ground where ’Ndere had placed it.
Who acts: four men, men · What happens: attack, kill, cut off, carry back, leave, place · To what, where: python, husband, head, men, Chief, food
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 (four men, men), 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 | four | four | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 3 men | nummod |
| 3 | men | man | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 attacked | nsubj |
| 4 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 5 attacked | advmod |
| 5 | attacked | attack | VERB | Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 python | det |
| 7 | python | python | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 attacked | obj |
| 8 | with | with | ADP | _ | 9 sticks | case |
| 9 | sticks | stick | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 attacked | obl |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 13 killed | punct |
| 11 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 13 killed | cc |
| 12 | soon | soon | ADV | Degree=Pos | 13 killed | advmod |
| 13 | killed | kill | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 attacked | conj |
| 14 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 13 killed | obj |
| 15 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 18 cut | punct |
| 16 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 18 cut | nsubj |
| 17 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 18 cut | advmod |
| 18 | cut | cut | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 attacked | parataxis |
| 19 | off | off | ADP | _ | 18 cut | compound:prt |
| 20 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 21 head | nmod:poss |
| 21 | head | head | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 cut | obj |
| 22 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 24 tail | cc |
| 23 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 24 tail | nmod:poss |
| 24 | tail | tail | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 head | conj |
| 25 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 27 carried | punct |
| 26 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 27 carried | cc |
| 27 | carried | carry | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 18 cut | conj |
| 28 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 27 carried | obj |
| 29 | back | back | ADV | _ | 27 carried | advmod |
| 30 | to | to | ADP | _ | 31 Chief | case |
| 31 | Chief | Chief | PROPN | Number=Sing | 27 carried | obl |
| 32 | Kaku | Kaku | PROPN | Number=Sing | 31 Chief | flat |
| 33 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 34 leaving | punct |
| 34 | leaving | leave | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 27 carried | advcl |
| 35 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 36 food | det |
| 36 | food | food | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 leaving | obj |
| 37 | on | on | ADP | _ | 39 ground | case |
| 38 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 39 ground | det |
| 39 | ground | ground | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 leaving | obl |
| 40 | where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 44 placed | advmod |
| 41 | ’ | ' | PUNCT | _ | 44 placed | punct |
| 42 | Ndere | Ndere | PROPN | Number=Sing | 44 placed | nsubj:pass |
| 43 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 44 placed | aux |
| 44 | placed | place | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 39 ground | acl:relcl |
| 45 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 44 placed | obj |
| 46 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 attacked | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | attack | past | the four men | the python | then | with sticks | vn attack-60.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent python=Patient | ||
| 2 | kill | past | the four men not said here | husband | soon property | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme | |||
| 3 | cut off | past | men = man | husband's head and husband's tail | then | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector head=Eventuality | |||
| 4 | carry back | past | men = man not said here | men = man | Chief | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent they=Theme to chief=Destination | |||
| 5 | leave | gerund | men = man not said here | the food | the ground | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent food=Theme on ground=Location | |||
| 6 | place | past · perfect · passive | Ndere | food obj | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP ADVP»: subject=Theme it=Destination |
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/pg70959/25/4/