Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 2, sentence 59
His wife then began to pack up her smoked fish, but, before she had finished Aictor came and sat on a tree near to where they were standing, and called out “Agbor Adam!
Who acts: wife, Aictor, men · What happens: begin, pack up, smoke, finish, come, sit · To what, where: smoked fish, tree, Agbor Adam
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 (wife, Aictor, 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 | His | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 2 wife | nmod:poss |
| 2 | wife | wife | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 began | nsubj |
| 3 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 4 began | advmod |
| 4 | began | begin | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | to | to | PART | _ | 6 pack | mark |
| 6 | pack | pack | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 4 began | xcomp |
| 7 | up | up | ADP | _ | 6 pack | compound:prt |
| 8 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 10 fish | nmod:poss |
| 9 | smoked | smoke | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 10 fish | amod |
| 10 | fish | fish | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 pack | obj |
| 11 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 17 finished | punct |
| 12 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 17 finished | cc |
| 13 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 17 finished | punct |
| 14 | before | before | SCONJ | _ | 17 finished | mark |
| 15 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 17 finished | nsubj |
| 16 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 17 finished | aux |
| 17 | finished | finish | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 4 began | conj |
| 18 | Aictor | Aictor | PROPN | Number=Sing | 19 came | nsubj |
| 19 | came | come | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 17 finished | parataxis |
| 20 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 21 sat | cc |
| 21 | sat | sit | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 19 came | conj |
| 22 | on | on | ADP | _ | 24 tree | case |
| 23 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 24 tree | det |
| 24 | tree | tree | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 sat | obl |
| 25 | near | near | ADP | _ | 30 standing | mark |
| 26 | to | to | SCONJ | _ | 30 standing | mark |
| 27 | where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 30 standing | advmod |
| 28 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 30 standing | nsubj |
| 29 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 30 standing | aux |
| 30 | standing | stand | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 21 sat | advcl |
| 31 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 33 called | punct |
| 32 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 33 called | cc |
| 33 | called | call | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 4 began | parataxis |
| 34 | out | out | ADP | _ | 33 called | compound:prt |
| 35 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 37 Adam | punct |
| 36 | Agbor | Agbor | PROPN | Number=Sing | 37 Adam | compound |
| 37 | Adam | Adam | PROPN | Number=Sing | 33 called | obl |
| 38 | ! | ! | PUNCT | _ | 4 began | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | begin | past | bird's wife | then | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | ||||
| 2 | pack up | to-infinitive | bird's wife not said here | wife's smoked fish | vn spray-9.7-1-1 «NP.theme V NP»: agent=Theme fish=Destination | ||||
| 3 | smoke | participle | vn eat-39.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||||
| 4 | finish | past · perfect | wife | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | |||||
| 5 | come | past | Aictor | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 6 | sit | past | Aictor not said here | a tree | vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on tree=Location | ||||
| 7 | stand | past · progressive | men = man | vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 8 | call out speech: assert | participle | Agbor Adam | vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
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/pg70959/25/59/