Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Fig. 2.--chief Indoma’s Compound., sentence 22

[4] The “night” calabash was used by the witches when they were going to kill anyone for their feasts, as it prolonged the night, and the Okuni people still believe when the nights are unusually long that the witches are out with the “night” calabash and are killing people.

Who acts: witches, yams, calabash, Okuni people, nights · What happens: use, go, kill, prolong, believe, be · To what, where: 4, anyone, people · Speech: someone speaks here

This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Fig. 2.--chief Indoma’s Compound.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (witches, yams, calabash, Okuni people), 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	[	[	PUNCT	_	2 4	punct
2	4	4	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	10 used	nsubj:pass
3	]	]	PUNCT	_	2 4	punct
4	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 calabash	det
5	“	"	PUNCT	_	6 night	punct
6	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 calabash	compound
7	”	"	PUNCT	_	6 night	punct
8	calabash	calabash	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 used	nsubj:pass
9	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 used	aux:pass
10	used	use	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
11	by	by	ADP	_	13 witches	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 witches	det
13	witches	witch	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 used	obl
14	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	17 going	advmod
15	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	17 going	nsubj
16	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	17 going	aux
17	going	go	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	10 used	conj
18	to	to	PART	_	19 kill	mark
19	kill	kill	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	17 going	xcomp
20	anyone	anyone	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	19 kill	obj
21	for	for	ADP	_	23 feasts	case
22	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	23 feasts	nmod:poss
23	feasts	feast	NOUN	Number=Plur	19 kill	obl
24	,	,	PUNCT	_	27 prolonged	punct
25	as	as	SCONJ	_	27 prolonged	mark
26	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	27 prolonged	nsubj
27	prolonged	prolong	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	17 going	parataxis
28	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	29 night	det
29	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	27 prolonged	obl:unmarked
30	,	,	PUNCT	_	36 believe	punct
31	and	and	CCONJ	_	36 believe	cc
32	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	34 people	det
33	Okuni	Okuni	PROPN	Number=Sing	34 people	compound
34	people	people	NOUN	Number=Plur	36 believe	nsubj
35	still	still	ADV	_	36 believe	advmod
36	believe	believe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 used	parataxis
37	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	42 long	advmod
38	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	39 nights	det
39	nights	night	NOUN	Number=Plur	42 long	nsubj
40	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	42 long	cop
41	unusually	unusually	ADV	_	42 long	advmod
42	long	long	ADJ	Degree=Pos	36 believe	ccomp
43	that	that	SCONJ	_	47 out	mark
44	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	45 witches	det
45	witches	witch	NOUN	Number=Plur	47 out	nsubj
46	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	47 out	cop
47	out	out	ADV	_	42 long	advcl
48	with	with	ADP	_	53 calabash	case
49	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	53 calabash	det
50	“	"	PUNCT	_	51 night	punct
51	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	53 calabash	compound
52	”	"	PUNCT	_	51 night	punct
53	calabash	calabash	NOUN	Number=Sing	47 out	obl
54	and	and	CCONJ	_	56 killing	cc
55	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	56 killing	aux
56	killing	kill	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	36 believe	conj
57	people	people	NOUN	Number=Plur	56 killing	obj
58	.	.	PUNCT	_	10 used	punct

Pragmatics

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	use	past · passive	the witches	4		the night calabash nsubj:pass	vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient
2	go	past · progressive	yams = yam				vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	kill	to-infinitive	yams = yam not said here	anyone		for yams's feasts	vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent anyone=Theme
4	prolong	past	calabash		night		vn sustain-55.6 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent
5	believe	present	the Okuni people		still		vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer
6	is	present	the nights			long, unusually property	tree rules
7	is	present	the witches			with the night calabash; out property	tree rules
8	kill	present · progressive	the Okuni people not said here	people			vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent people=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/pg70959/29/22/

🌲 Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Fig. 2.--chief Indoma’s Compound., sentence 22

The tree

Pragmatics

Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Fig. 2.--chief Indoma’s Compound., sentence 22