Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 2, sentence 40
But Agbor Adam, seeing that there was no one within sight, told his wife that it would be quite safe, as no one would know, and that, if she gave him some of her fish, he would give her one of the animals he had killed.
Who acts: seeing, Agbor Adam, sight, one, wife, Adam · What happens: see, be, tell, know, give, kill · To what, where: one, wife, that, some, Adam · 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 (seeing, Agbor Adam, sight, one), 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 | But | but | CCONJ | _ | 14 told | cc |
| 2 | Agbor | Agbor | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 Adam | compound |
| 3 | Adam | Adam | PROPN | Number=Sing | 14 told | nsubj |
| 4 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 10 one | punct |
| 5 | seeing | see | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 10 one | csubj |
| 6 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 8 was | mark |
| 7 | there | there | PRON | PronType=Dem | 8 was | expl |
| 8 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 10 one | cop |
| 9 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 10 one | det |
| 10 | one | one | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 Adam | appos |
| 11 | within | within | ADP | _ | 12 sight | case |
| 12 | sight | sight | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 one | nmod |
| 13 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 3 Adam | punct |
| 14 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 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 | 14 told | iobj |
| 17 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 22 safe | mark |
| 18 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 22 safe | nsubj |
| 19 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 22 safe | aux |
| 20 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 22 safe | cop |
| 21 | quite | quite | ADV | _ | 22 safe | advmod |
| 22 | safe | safe | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 14 told | ccomp |
| 23 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 28 know | punct |
| 24 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 28 know | mark |
| 25 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 26 one | det |
| 26 | one | one | NOUN | Number=Sing | 28 know | nsubj |
| 27 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 28 know | aux |
| 28 | know | know | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 14 told | parataxis |
| 29 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 31 that | punct |
| 30 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 31 that | cc |
| 31 | that | that | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 28 know | obl |
| 32 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 35 gave | punct |
| 33 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 35 gave | mark |
| 34 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 35 gave | nsubj |
| 35 | gave | give | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 28 know | conj |
| 36 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 35 gave | iobj |
| 37 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 35 gave | obj |
| 38 | of | of | ADP | _ | 40 fish | case |
| 39 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 40 fish | nmod:poss |
| 40 | fish | fish | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 some | nmod |
| 41 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 44 give | punct |
| 42 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 44 give | nsubj |
| 43 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 44 give | aux |
| 44 | give | give | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 28 know | conj |
| 45 | her | she | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 44 give | iobj |
| 46 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 44 give | obj |
| 47 | of | of | ADP | _ | 49 animals | case |
| 48 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 49 animals | det |
| 49 | animals | animal | NOUN | Number=Plur | 46 one | nmod |
| 50 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 52 killed | nsubj:pass |
| 51 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 52 killed | aux |
| 52 | killed | kill | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 49 animals | acl:relcl |
| 53 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 14 told | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | see | gerund | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | ||||||
| 2 | is a | past | seeing | no one | within sight | tree rules | |||
| 3 | tell speech: assert | past | Agbor Adam | Adam's wife | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent wife=Recipient | ||||
| 4 | is | would | sight | safe property | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | know | would | no one | that | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | ||||
| 6 | give a condition, not said to happen | past | wife | some of wife's fish | Adam | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient some=Theme | |||
| 7 | give | would | Adam | one of the animals | wife | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent she=Recipient one=Theme | |||
| 8 | kill | past · perfect · passive | the animals not said here | Adam | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: subject=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/pg70959/25/40/