Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 3, sentence 1
When the chief returned to the town with his hunters, he sent some men to call Agbor, but although they knocked at his door for a long time and called both Agbor and his wife by name, they received no reply.
Who acts: chief, men · What happens: return, send, call, knock, receive · To what, where: men, Agbor, reply · 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 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (chief, 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 | When | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 4 returned | advmod |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 chief | det |
| 3 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 returned | nsubj |
| 4 | returned | return | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 13 sent | advcl |
| 5 | to | to | ADP | _ | 7 town | case |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 town | det |
| 7 | town | town | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 returned | obl |
| 8 | with | with | ADP | _ | 10 hunters | case |
| 9 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 10 hunters | nmod:poss |
| 10 | hunters | hunter | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 returned | obl |
| 11 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 4 returned | punct |
| 12 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 13 sent | nsubj |
| 13 | sent | send | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 14 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 15 men | det |
| 15 | men | man | NOUN | Number=Plur | 13 sent | obj |
| 16 | to | to | PART | _ | 17 call | mark |
| 17 | call | call | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 13 sent | advcl |
| 18 | Agbor | Agbor | PROPN | Number=Sing | 17 call | obj |
| 19 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 23 knocked | punct |
| 20 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 23 knocked | cc |
| 21 | although | although | SCONJ | _ | 23 knocked | mark |
| 22 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 23 knocked | nsubj |
| 23 | knocked | knock | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 13 sent | conj |
| 24 | at | at | ADP | _ | 26 door | case |
| 25 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 26 door | nmod:poss |
| 26 | door | door | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 knocked | obl |
| 27 | for | for | ADP | _ | 30 time | case |
| 28 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 30 time | det |
| 29 | long | long | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 30 time | amod |
| 30 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 knocked | obl |
| 31 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 32 called | cc |
| 32 | called | call | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 23 knocked | conj |
| 33 | both | both | CCONJ | _ | 34 Agbor | cc:preconj |
| 34 | Agbor | Agbor | PROPN | Number=Sing | 32 called | xcomp |
| 35 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 37 wife | cc |
| 36 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 37 wife | nmod:poss |
| 37 | wife | wife | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 Agbor | conj |
| 38 | by | by | ADP | _ | 39 name | case |
| 39 | name | name | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 called | obl |
| 40 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 42 received | punct |
| 41 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 42 received | nsubj |
| 42 | received | receive | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 13 sent | conj |
| 43 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 44 reply | det |
| 44 | reply | reply | NOUN | Number=Sing | 42 received | obj |
| 45 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 13 sent | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | return | past | the chief | to the town result; with chief's hunters | vn convert-26.6.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Patient to town=Result | ||||
| 2 | send | past | chief | some men | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent man=Theme | ||||
| 3 | call | to-infinitive | chief not said here | Agbor | vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent agbor=Recipient | ||||
| 4 | knock | past | men = man | time | at chief's door | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent at door=Patient | |||
| 5 | call | past | men = man not said here | by name; Agbor and chief's wife xcomp | vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 6 | receive | past | men = man | no reply | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reply=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/pg70959/26/1/