Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 2, sentence 73
Aigbor also said he would wash, so they took off their cloths and stepped into the water, but they had only just started to wash themselves when the bird called out again, “Agbor Adam!
Who acts: Aigbor, women · What happens: say, wash, take off, step, have, start · To what, where: cloths, water, women, bird · 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 (Aigbor, women), 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 | Aigbor | Aigbor | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 said | nsubj |
| 2 | also | also | ADV | _ | 3 said | advmod |
| 3 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 6 wash | nsubj |
| 5 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 6 wash | aux |
| 6 | wash | wash | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 3 said | xcomp |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 10 took | punct |
| 8 | so | so | ADV | _ | 10 took | advmod |
| 9 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 10 took | nsubj |
| 10 | took | take | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 said | conj |
| 11 | off | off | ADP | _ | 10 took | compound:prt |
| 12 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 13 cloths | nmod:poss |
| 13 | cloths | cloth | NOUN | Number=Plur | 10 took | obj |
| 14 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 15 stepped | cc |
| 15 | stepped | step | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 10 took | conj |
| 16 | into | into | ADP | _ | 18 water | case |
| 17 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 18 water | det |
| 18 | water | water | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 stepped | obl |
| 19 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 22 had | punct |
| 20 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 22 had | cc |
| 21 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 22 had | nsubj |
| 22 | had | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 said | conj |
| 23 | only | only | ADV | _ | 25 started | advmod |
| 24 | just | just | ADV | _ | 25 started | advmod |
| 25 | started | start | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 22 had | advcl |
| 26 | to | to | PART | _ | 27 wash | mark |
| 27 | wash | wash | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 25 started | xcomp |
| 28 | themselves | themselves | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes | 27 wash | obj |
| 29 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 32 called | advmod |
| 30 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 31 bird | det |
| 31 | bird | bird | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 called | nsubj:pass |
| 32 | called | call | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 27 wash | advcl |
| 33 | out | out | ADP | _ | 32 called | compound:prt |
| 34 | again | again | ADV | _ | 32 called | advmod |
| 35 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 38 Adam | punct |
| 36 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 38 Adam | punct |
| 37 | Agbor | Agbor | PROPN | Number=Sing | 38 Adam | compound |
| 38 | Adam | Adam | PROPN | Number=Sing | 27 wash | obl |
| 39 | ! | ! | PUNCT | _ | 3 said | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | past | Aigbor | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 2 | wash | would | Aigbor | vn floss-41.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 3 | take off | past | women = woman | women's cloths | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cloth=Theme | ||||
| 4 | step | past | women = woman not said here | the water | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into water=Destination | ||||
| 5 | have | past | women = woman | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 6 | start | past | women = woman not said here | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | |||||
| 7 | wash | to-infinitive | women = woman not said here | women = woman | Agbor Adam obl | vn floss-41.2.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent themselves=Patient | |||
| 8 | call out speech: assert | participle · passive | the bird | again | vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |
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/pg70959/25/73/