Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 3, sentence 15
Then Chief Aboli pointed to the palm-tree on which Aictor was perched, and told Agbor Adam that he should be hanged there, but, first of all, he should climb up and down the tree six times, and when he got to the top for the seventh time he should place his head in a noose and hang himself.
Who acts: Chief, Aictor · What happens: point, perch, tell, hange, climb up, get · To what, where: palm tree, Aictor, Agbor Adam, head, noose · 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, Aictor), 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 | Then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 4 pointed | advmod |
| 2 | Chief | Chief | PROPN | Number=Sing | 4 pointed | nsubj |
| 3 | Aboli | Aboli | PROPN | Number=Sing | 2 Chief | flat |
| 4 | pointed | point | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | to | to | ADP | _ | 9 tree | case |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 tree | det |
| 7 | palm | palm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 tree | compound |
| 8 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 7 palm | punct |
| 9 | tree | tree | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 pointed | obl |
| 10 | on | on | ADP | _ | 11 which | case |
| 11 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 14 perched | obl |
| 12 | Aictor | Aictor | PROPN | Number=Sing | 14 perched | nsubj |
| 13 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 14 perched | aux:pass |
| 14 | perched | perch | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 9 tree | acl:relcl |
| 15 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 17 told | punct |
| 16 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 17 told | cc |
| 17 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 pointed | conj |
| 18 | Agbor | Agbor | PROPN | Number=Sing | 19 Adam | compound |
| 19 | Adam | Adam | PROPN | Number=Sing | 17 told | iobj |
| 20 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 24 hanged | mark |
| 21 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 24 hanged | nsubj:pass |
| 22 | should | should | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 24 hanged | aux |
| 23 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 24 hanged | aux:pass |
| 24 | hanged | hange | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 17 told | ccomp |
| 25 | there | there | ADV | PronType=Dem | 24 hanged | advmod |
| 26 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 35 climb | punct |
| 27 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 35 climb | cc |
| 28 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 29 first | punct |
| 29 | first | first | ADV | NumForm=Word NumType=Ord | 35 climb | advmod |
| 30 | of | of | ADP | _ | 31 all | case |
| 31 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 29 first | obl |
| 32 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 35 climb | punct |
| 33 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 35 climb | nsubj |
| 34 | should | should | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 35 climb | aux |
| 35 | climb | climb | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 4 pointed | conj |
| 36 | up | up | ADV | _ | 35 climb | advmod |
| 37 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 40 tree | cc |
| 38 | down | down | ADP | _ | 40 tree | case |
| 39 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 40 tree | det |
| 40 | tree | tree | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 up | conj |
| 41 | six | six | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 42 times | nummod |
| 42 | times | time | NOUN | Number=Plur | 40 tree | obl:unmarked |
| 43 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 47 got | punct |
| 44 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 47 got | cc |
| 45 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 47 got | advmod |
| 46 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 47 got | nsubj |
| 47 | got | get | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 pointed | parataxis |
| 48 | to | to | ADP | _ | 50 top | case |
| 49 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 50 top | det |
| 50 | top | top | NOUN | Number=Sing | 47 got | obl |
| 51 | for | for | ADP | _ | 54 time | case |
| 52 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 54 time | det |
| 53 | seventh | seventh | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 54 time | amod |
| 54 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 57 place | obl |
| 55 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 57 place | nsubj |
| 56 | should | should | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 57 place | aux |
| 57 | place | place | NOUN | Number=Sing | 47 got | obl |
| 58 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 59 head | nmod:poss |
| 59 | head | head | NOUN | Number=Sing | 47 got | obj |
| 60 | in | in | ADP | _ | 62 noose | case |
| 61 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 62 noose | det |
| 62 | noose | noose | NOUN | Number=Sing | 47 got | obl |
| 63 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 64 hang | cc |
| 64 | hang | hang | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 47 got | conj |
| 65 | himself | himself | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes | 64 hang | obj |
| 66 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 pointed | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | point | past | Chief | the palm tree | then | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to tree=Recipient | |||
| 2 | perch | past · passive | Aictor | the palm tree | vn put_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme on which=Destination | ||||
| 3 | tell speech: assert | past | Chief not said here | Agbor Adam | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent adam=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 4 | hange | should · passive | Aictor | there | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | climb up | should | Aictor | first property | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 6 | get | past | Aictor | Aictor's head | a noose | to the top | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer head=Stimulus | ||
| 7 | place | should | Aictor | time | tree rules | ||||
| 8 | hang | infinitive | Aictor not said here | Aictor | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent himself=Patient |
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/pg70959/26/15/