Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 3, sentence 70
When the chief heard his son’s voice he went back to the town and got all the animals and birds as quickly as possible, and having brought them down to the water-side, sacrificed them to the river ju-ju.
Who acts: chief · What happens: hear, go back, get, have, bring down, sacrifice · To what, where: voice, animals, water side, ju ju
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), 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 heard | advmod |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 chief | det |
| 3 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 heard | nsubj |
| 4 | heard | hear | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 10 went | advcl |
| 5 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 6 son | nmod:poss |
| 6 | son | son | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 voice | nmod:poss |
| 7 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 6 son | case |
| 8 | voice | voice | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 heard | obj |
| 9 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 10 went | nsubj |
| 10 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 11 | back | back | ADV | _ | 10 went | advmod |
| 12 | to | to | ADP | _ | 14 town | case |
| 13 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 town | det |
| 14 | town | town | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 went | obl |
| 15 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 16 got | cc |
| 16 | got | get | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 10 went | conj |
| 17 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 19 animals | det:predet |
| 18 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 19 animals | det |
| 19 | animals | animal | NOUN | Number=Plur | 16 got | obj |
| 20 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 21 birds | cc |
| 21 | birds | bird | NOUN | Number=Plur | 19 animals | conj |
| 22 | as | as | ADV | _ | 23 quickly | advmod |
| 23 | quickly | quickly | ADV | _ | 16 got | advmod |
| 24 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 25 possible | mark |
| 25 | possible | possible | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 23 quickly | advcl |
| 26 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 29 brought | punct |
| 27 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 29 brought | cc |
| 28 | having | have | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 29 brought | reparandum |
| 29 | brought | bring | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 10 went | conj |
| 30 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 29 brought | obj |
| 31 | down | down | ADP | _ | 29 brought | compound:prt |
| 32 | to | to | ADP | _ | 36 side | case |
| 33 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 36 side | det |
| 34 | water | water | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 side | compound |
| 35 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 34 water | punct |
| 36 | side | side | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 brought | obl |
| 37 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 38 sacrificed | punct |
| 38 | sacrificed | sacrifice | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 10 went | conj |
| 39 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 38 sacrificed | obj |
| 40 | to | to | ADP | _ | 45 ju | case |
| 41 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 45 ju | det |
| 42 | river | river | NOUN | Number=Sing | 45 ju | nsubj |
| 43 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 45 ju | compound |
| 44 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 45 ju | punct |
| 45 | ju | ju | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 sacrificed | obl |
| 46 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 10 went | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | hear | past | the chief | chief's son's voice | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer voice=Stimulus | ||||
| 2 | go back | past | chief | to the town result | vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Patient to town=Result | ||||
| 3 | get | past | chief not said here | all animals and birds | quickly property | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer animal=Stimulus | |||
| 4 | have | gerund | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | ||||||
| 5 | bring down | past | chief not said here | animals = animal | the water side | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent they=Theme to side=Destination | |||
| 6 | sacrifice | past | chief not said here | animals = animal | the ju ju river | vn contribute-13.2-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Theme to ju=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/pg70959/26/70/