Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xxxi.--chief Kekong’s Daughter ’ndere Who Married a Python., part 3, sentence 71
When the sacrifice was completed, the chief told all his young men to go into the river with a net; in case his son should not be able to get out of the water, they could then fish him out.
Who acts: chief, son, men · What happens: complete, tell, go, not be, get out, fish out · To what, where: sacrifice, young men, river, case, water, chief · 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, son, 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 | SCONJ | _ | 5 completed | mark |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 sacrifice | det |
| 3 | sacrifice | sacrifice | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 completed | nsubj:pass |
| 4 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 completed | aux:pass |
| 5 | completed | complete | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 41 fish | advcl |
| 6 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 9 told | punct |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 chief | det |
| 8 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 told | nsubj |
| 9 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 completed | conj |
| 10 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 13 men | det:predet |
| 11 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 13 men | nmod:poss |
| 12 | young | young | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 13 men | amod |
| 13 | men | man | NOUN | Number=Plur | 9 told | obj |
| 14 | to | to | PART | _ | 15 go | mark |
| 15 | go | go | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | 9 told | ccomp |
| 16 | into | into | ADP | _ | 18 river | case |
| 17 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 18 river | det |
| 18 | river | river | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 go | obl |
| 19 | with | with | ADP | _ | 21 net | case |
| 20 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 21 net | det |
| 21 | net | net | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 go | obl |
| 22 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 30 able | punct |
| 23 | in | in | ADP | _ | 24 case | case |
| 24 | case | case | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 able | obl |
| 25 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 26 son | nmod:poss |
| 26 | son | son | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 able | nsubj |
| 27 | should | should | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 30 able | aux |
| 28 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 30 able | advmod |
| 29 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 30 able | cop |
| 30 | able | able | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 completed | conj |
| 31 | to | to | PART | _ | 32 get | mark |
| 32 | get | get | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 30 able | xcomp |
| 33 | out | out | ADP | _ | 36 water | case |
| 34 | of | of | ADP | _ | 36 water | case |
| 35 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 36 water | det |
| 36 | water | water | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 get | obl |
| 37 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 5 completed | punct |
| 38 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 41 fish | nsubj |
| 39 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 41 fish | aux |
| 40 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 41 fish | advmod |
| 41 | fish | fish | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 42 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 41 fish | obj |
| 43 | out | out | ADP | _ | 41 fish | compound:prt |
| 44 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 41 fish | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | complete | past · passive | the sacrifice | vn complete-55.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality | |||||
| 2 | tell speech: assert | past | the chief | chief's young men | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent man=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 3 | go not said to happen | to-infinitive | the river | with a net | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme into river=Initial_Location | ||||
| 4 | not is | should | chief's son | case | able property | tree rules | |||
| 5 | get out | to-infinitive | chief's son not said here | the water | tree rules | ||||
| 6 | fish out | could | men = man | chief | then | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=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/pg70959/26/71/